Harry Potter 1. Of Birthdays and Broomsticks

Ginny giggled at her daughter's comment as she braided her hair. It was shoulder-length, silky and the exact shade of red as hers. Lily wriggled, perching on the edge of the sofa between her mother's legs. Despite her protests, she knew it needed to be done – she wanted to look like a princess for her fifth birthday party. Ginny, being a determined, yet caring mother, was adamant her daughter's dream would come true. Wasn't five years something of a milestone?

James wasn't making it easy. His small broomstick soared around in the house, slamming into the furniture as it went.

"James, what have I said about riding your broomstick in the house?" Harry yelled.

"Sorry, Dad," James chortled, zooming out of the back door. Harry shook his head slowly, but he was grinning. Albus clung to his arm, resembling him to such extent you could mistake him as a smaller version.

"Why can't I have a broomstick, Daddy?" Albus asked.

"You're only seven, Al."

"You gave James one for his seventh birthday," Albus insisted.

Harry grinned down at his son. "Christmas. Right now, we have to tidy up the house for your sister's birthday."

Albus pouted, before dashing out of the house after James.

"He's a piece of work, that boy," Harry said with a smile.

Ginny grinned back, scooting herself and Lily over on the sofa so Harry could join them. Her fingers twined intricately through the thin locks of red hair to make tight braids fastened with daisies. Lily looked thrilled, staring into the mirror on the opposite side of the room at her reflection. Her sparkly white dress complimented her tiny body perfectly, and her smile lit the room. Ginny loved seeing Lily smile – it was like a candle, bringing light into the room.

"You're beautiful," Harry whispered to his daughter.

"Like a princess?" Lily said hopefully.

"Just like a princess," Harry replied.

Lily clapped, eyes squinting with the size of her smile. Her day was going perfectly so far; the party was only a few hours away, with her friends and family bearing presents. It was a day all about her.

Well, all seemed to be going well until there was a knock on the door.

"One of our guests is rather early. Probably Uncle Ron and Aunty Hermione," Harry said. He clambered to his feet and made for the door, hand poised to twist the knob when it swung open.

Draco stood there, brandishing his new wand, with a scowl on his face. "May I come in?"


	2. Draco's Son

Harry's mouth dropped open. Small, incoherent sounds wrenched themselves from him, but they were never of any meaning. Malfoy's hair was still as pale as before, his face still as pointed, but his eyes were circled with brown from restless nights, and his mouth… Harry didn't want to think about his mouth. It was pale and… bitten… since when did Malfoy bite his lip?

A lot had changed in fifteen years.

Malfoy raised one slender blond eyebrow. "Well?"

Harry inhaled to speak, but before he opened his mouth, a small boy of about six, maybe seven, leapt out of the sleek black car Harry hadn't noticed until now, his white-blonde hair blowing in a sudden gust of wind. He was a spitting image of Malfoy.

"Scorpius, I told you to wait in the car," Malfoy hissed.

The boy blinked up at his father. "I got bored," he said.

"Well, both of you, w-would you like to come inside?" Harry suggested, stepping back to make a passage through the front door. He was still shaken by shock, so astonished his voice broke.

"We would," Malfoy said. He put one pale, skeletal hand on his son's black-clad shoulder and ushered him through the door. Harry shut the front door behind them both.

Ginny came into sight from Harry's vantage point in the hall, from around the white door of the living room. "Who's this, Harry?"

Draco smiled, his puckered, frowning mouth coiling into something mocking and agonizingly familiar. "Hello, Weasley. I'm not at all surprised to see you here." He looked down at her and Harry's children. "See you knocked her up, Potter."

Ginny cupped her hands over Lily's ears, and Harry fists balled up. He'd forgotten have Malfoy caused his blood to boil with fury, frustration and humiliation. Before he could succumb to his rage, the door opened again, distracting him from his overwhelming desire to draw his wand – or punch him – whichever would yield the most damage.

Ron and Hermione stared at the scene before them: Harry trembling with fury, Draco watching and laughing, Ginny glaring at Draco, Lily struggling under her mother's hands to find out what he'd said that was so bad.

"What the bloody hell is going on?" said Ron.

"It's Draco! What's he doing here on my niece's birthday?" asked Hermione.

Ginny released Lily and stood between Malfoy and Harry. "Right, let's all calm down. Adults upstairs, children in the living room."

Hugo and Rose darted from the second car on Harry's drive and straight into the living room as if it was their own house; they'd visited often enough to call it that. Lily then rushed into the garden, beckoned for Albus and James, and came back inside with them flanking her. James grabbed Scorpius fiercely by his pallid, bony wrist and hauled him with him into the living room with the others.

Ron stared at Malfoy, Harry, Ginny and Hermione in turn.

"We need to catch up," he said.

Malfoy hesitated, but Harry grabbed him by the collar – thrilling at the fact he was able to strike terror into Malfoy's eyes – and hissed at him, "You heard him, come _now_!"


	3. Of Young Love and Locks

James, Albus and Lily Potter, Rose and Hugo Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy all found themselves sitting together in the living room of the Potter residence, crushed by a pregnant yet awkward silence.

James broke it first. "Dad told me all about your father, and what he did to Dad when he was at Hogwarts."

Albus started. "He _did_?" he asked, rounding on James. A frown crossed his face. "He never told me that."

"That's because he loves me the most," said James with a smirk.

"_He does not!_" shouted Lily, angry tears streaming down her face. This birthday wasn't going at all to plan. Wasn't five years something of a milestone?

Rose swiftly got to her feet and yelled, "Be quiet! You're all being babies!" She caught Scorpius's eye and ducked back down to the ground, blushing radiantly. Scorpius's frown only left for a second to smile at Rose, before deepening once more.

"What exactly did my father do?" he asked quietly, scowling at James, who was now chortling.

"He never told you? Aren't you an only child – Hugo, let go of the rug, for Merlin's sake! Dad will_ kill_ me if he finds out you ruined it. Says he doesn't like it being damaged, even through he can fix it in a second with the flick of his wand... Mad, I say... Anyway, aren't you an only child? I thought they were the most loved and trusted children?" James cocked his head to one side in curiosity.

"Obviously not," Albus chimed in.

"Hey, hey, my dear brother, I am the oldest here, I will referee this," said James.

Lily began to wail deafeningly. "But it's my birthday!"

"Shut up, Lily," Hugo hissed, covering his ears.

Lily's cries slipped into silence once again, filled this time with not awkwardness but rage (mostly from Lily), curiosity and disbelief.

The clock on the wall chimed over the silent children, announcing three o'clock to the world. As Scorpius craned his neck to examine the gold-gilded clock, Rose stared at his sharp, pale features, like the way his eyelashes were long and black, despite his hair, yet they didn't make him look too feminine; the shine in his eyes; his neat, white-blond hair, combed behind his ears; his lips…

Rose snapped out of it – goodness, she was only seven! Boys were disgusting. Plus, there was obviously something about Scorpius – or at least, his father – that she was missing, and this infuriated her. Her mother had always told her to befriend people, but how could she be friends with someone who has secrets, even if he wasn't a revolting boy? It wasn't possible… but even so, even with the facts against her, she couldn't get over how beautiful he was, sitting in the light beam coming from the lamp.

It was when she stared at her cousin, James, that she realised everyone else was staring too. Under the anticipating eyes, James coughed.

"Well, what are y'all staring at me like that for?" asked James.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well, you mentioned Score's…" Everyone turned their wide-eyed gaze onto Rose at Scorpius's new nickname. Rose cleared her throat, ashamed, but continued nonetheless, "father, so you can't just leave us in suspense." She spent a moment endeavouring to remember the long word she learnt recently. "… Elaborate."

And so, James began.

* * *

He explained the dreadful word he called Rose's mother (James didn't dare say it; he spelt it out. Even so, Rose and Hugo gasped in horror) and said that he'd done something horrifying to an old headmaster, named after Albus, though Uncle Harry had scolded him for asked what happened. It was remarkable how much James could tell, though, despite the fact his father hadn't enlightened him on that story. Rose could tell by his expression that every word James spoke was alien to Albus.

After James's story had ended, there was once again a lengthy silence. There was nothing but the faint whisper of a bird's wings as it took off and the muffled thrum of the adult's voices from upstairs.

"I didn't know that," whispered Scorpius. Rose examined the anxiety in his eyes.

When Scorpius abruptly flinched, at first she couldn't put a finger on why. Her mine was too full of James's tale of her uncle's past and, well, Scorpius (or as she now called him, Score.) Then, when he tilted his head down and eyed his right hand, she noticed she was clutching it tightly. Her slender piano fingers were intertwined with his. Appalled, she attempted to release him, but he clung to her, now smiling. His eyes sparkled like stars when he smiled, and despite her bashfulness, Rose couldn't help but grin back. Maybe boys weren't so disgusting after all.

The gleam in Malfoy's eye was familiar. It reminded Harry of the eyes of a Death Eater. No remorse.

"Explain," said Ginny.

"Explain what?" asked Malfoy, obviously faking his innocent tone. A coy smirk toyed at the corner of his mouth.

"Why did you come here, and why did you come here today?"

"Was now not the time?" Draco asked.

"You are ruining my daughter's birthday. I thought maybe after all of the Voldemort nonsense you would grow up a little, but no, you decide to barge into my house on my daughter's effing birthday. Was there something you wished to tell me?" Harry gushed, furious.

To his surprise, Draco nodded. "Alone," said Malfoy.

Hermione and Ron gave him an incredulous glare, but Harry nodded curtly and led Malfoy into the bedroom, shutting and locking the door behind them.


	4. The Malfoy Incident

**A/N: Well, chapter 4 is finished! Yay! And I actually took the time to proofread it all, so if I missed something out I am very stupid and need Harry Potter glasses and I'm sorry. Well, hope you enjoy the yaoi-ness. **

* * *

The silence thrummed in the air of the master bedroom, and Harry wasn't sure this was from the protective enchantments surrounding the house – making it appear to Muggles to be an ancient, derelict hut, incapable of living in – or the anticipation of speech. Harry stared at Malfoy, expecting him to speak, make some sort of sound, but instead Malfoy stared hard at the blue duvet on the bed, as if secrets hid in the creases.

Harry was proud of the bedroom. Without Ginny, he couldn't imagine himself occupying any house as well themed colour-wise as this. Each of the upstairs rooms was designed to one colour of the rainbow, as there were seven in total – Albus' room, Lily's room, James' room, the master bedroom, the spare bedroom, and two bathrooms. This colour arrangement was abstract but fitting, and most importantly, Harry liked it, so it stayed that way.

Blinking rapidly, Harry realised his mind had been drifting to the colour scheme of the second floor –_ that_ wasn't like him – and snapped out of it. His gaze returned to Malfoy, who was now staring back. His eyes were twinkling in a beautiful way that didn't suit him. Wary, Harry took a step back so that his back was braced against the wall.

Draco took a step forward. There was a good meter between them, but Harry still shuffled backwards further until it wasn't physically possible to put less space between his body and the wall, unless you were a ghost. Draco once again took a bold stride forwards. There was less that a meter between them now. Harry needed space. Harry needed…

"Potter," said Draco with a smile.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Take that grin off of your face. You wanted to tell me something, and now all you're doing is smiling at me? It's kind of creepy, so I'd rather you didn't."

"You can't tell me what to do, Potter," retorted Draco, but his voice lacked the bitter, menacing edge Harry had grown accustomed to.

"Uh, I _think_ you'll find I can," said Harry, gesturing to the room around him. "This _is_ my house."

Outside, he could hear muttering.

"_Alohamora! Why won't it work?"_

"_Ron, he's a bit paranoid now. I guess you can understand that. He charmed the locks so they can't be opened unless you have the key." _That voice was definitely Ginny's.

"_Well, get the key then, you idiot!" _Ron.

"_Did you not just see him take the key in with him, oh-smart-one?" _Ginny.

"_Do you think there's a spare?" _Hermione.

"_No, there isn't… yes, there _is_ a spare!" _Ginny.

"_Use it then!" _Ron.

"_One problem." _Ginny.

"_Oh yes?" _Hermione.

"_I have no idea in hell where it is." _Ginny.

"Well, Malfoy, something you need to say to me now? It'll take my wife approximately five minutes to find the key, give or take a few seconds judging on how much coffee she drank this morning."

Malfoy looked _nervous_! "It's gonna be hard to explain. It's best if I show you."

"Oh yes?" said Harry cautiously, remembering Riddle in the diary using the same words.

Draco took a step forward again. There was a few inches between them, and Harry could feel his quiet, cool breath on his face. With a yelp, he tried to escape the cage Draco's arms made, but before he could launch himself underneath, Draco's lips came down and pressed against his.

_"Accio spare key. _Accio spare key_! Ugh, he's put barriers up. This is just _stupid_." _ Ginny.

_"Guess we have to search manually. Ron, you check in the spare bedroom. Ginny, go downstairs and check in the kitchen. I'll check in the living room." _ Hermione.

Harry froze, poised like a kangaroo ready to leap. Draco's lips, cold and smooth as ice, explored his mouth, attempting to spark a reaction, yearning to be kissed back, but Harry wouldn't give him that pleasure. He turned into a statue, not even flinching when Draco's arms looped around his neck and his teeth nibbled on his lower lip. Harry was expecting to feel lust or disgust towards his kiss, but he was spiralling into nothingness, teetering on the blank edge of oblivion, as well as a bunch of other deep and poetic things hurled in to give the correct effect at his emotions.

It was like Sirius has died again. That haunting numbness, so strong you couldn't pray for it to stop, because you couldn't feel anything. Harry hated it, but he only knew that after, because he couldn't hate anything.

"_Is that it?"_

"_Hermione, that's my earring rack!"_

"_Oh, sorry, Ginny!"_

The buzzing intensified, but he still wasn't sure where it was coming from.

"Open your mouth, Potter?" Draco moaned against Harry's lips.

Harry started at his voice, so shocked that his lips parted and Draco kissed his more urgently. It was years' worth of kissing and if Harry wasn't married and straight he would have melted under Draco's hands (**a/n: I am a Drarry fan but for the purpose of this, Harry is straight, or else there would be no Rose or Scorpius, would there?**) but he was both of those things, and so, robotically, Harry lifted his hands to Draco's shoulders.

Draco groaned at his touch, taking his action to be a response, but Harry forced Draco back with all the power he could muster. He may have killed Lord Voldemort, but he wasn't bulky, not at all. With a smack that reminded Harry of a slap, Draco emerged from the kiss. His head darted forward; he snuck in another kiss through Harry's alarmed guard.

Unfortunately, this was the moment Ginny found the key and opened the door.

The buzzing, the buzzing! Harry felt like his brain would explode from the vibrations. All hell was gonna break loose, Harry could feel it – literally.

* * *

"Get out of my house, Malfoy! If I dare see you molesting my husband again, I swear…" (**a/n: That sounds a bit gender-bent, but whatever.**)

"_Merlin_, how many times can one person say sorry?" pleaded Draco, now sporting a spectacular black eye from Harry. He clutched his crotch, which had suffered a painful blow from Ginny.

"When you get out of the house, we may begin to consider forgiving you," said Hermione, scowling.

"Which does _not_ mean we will forgive you, so wipe that grin off your face!" said Ron.

Draco's poker face returned.

"Now leave," said Harry with force.

"_Potter_…"

Harry scrubbed his mouth with the back of his hand for about the fiftieth time and hissed, "_Now!_"

Cowering, Draco slipped into the living room and grabbed his son's wrist.

"Come, Scorpius."

Rose trailed behind Scorpius as he was dragged into the hallway. "Score, where are you going?"

"Dad, do we have to go now? Can't I stay with Rose a little longer?" asked Scorpius.

"No way in hell, boy," said Draco firmly.

"Well, may I visit her soon?"

Scorpius received a painful clip on the ear for that comment.

Rose clutched the fabric of Scorpius' shirt. "Scorpius, don't go yet. Goodness knows when I'll see you again."

Draco turned on Rose, yanking her hand from his son with more force than necessary. As Rose nursed her wrist, Draco said, "Get your filthy hands off of my son, Weasley."

Rose's eyes widened, and Hermione took a step forward with a shriek of, "Don't touch her!" Ron had to be restrained by Harry's and Ginny's combined strength.

"You're not welcome," Albus said, stepping over the threshold that separated the living room from the hall.

"I can see that. Come, Scorpius, your mother will be frantic by now."

Scorpius nodded. After waving goodbye to Rose, he allowed himself to be hauled out of the door. Silence was deafening in the hall.

"Well, let's get this party started, shall we?" Ron said cheerfully.

* * *

**Haha, the next chapter is probably going to be six years into the future, but just so you know after what they call the 'Malfoy Incident' – that is SO being the title – the party was great and no more disruptions occurred. Happy fifth birthday, Lily Potter II!**

**Reviews are marshmallows on cocktail sticks, dipped in a chocolate fountain.**

**Air-kiss! Mwah!**

**PIMP (which I discovered just now is the acronym for PotterIsMyPatronus. That was such a coincidence! Don't look at me like that, it was!)**


	5. Of Friends and Frenemies

**A/N: Sorry for the decor thingies that seem to pop up a lot. I'm not that good at describing yet ^^" They'll probably arrive at Hogwarts next chapter, so you will be swimming in gushy, romantic description - never fear. Amg, I love Albus and Rose together. I just find them so adorable.**

**Rose: Hey, incest much?**

**I didn't mean it like that! D;**

**Albus: Good, because I would have to hex you if you did.**

**We all know you don't have the guts to do that... Sorrysorrysorrysorry- OW?**

**Rose: Serves you right.**

* * *

**Third Year****, 1****st**** September**

Albus grabbed Rose's hand. "The train's coming, Rose, look! Can you see it?"

"Albus, a train isn't all that spectacular. It's third year. It was kind of cool at first but this is the third time," said Rose. She tugged her hand out from Albus'. "Don't hold my hand, Al. People might get the wrong idea."

"We're cousins," Albus laughed. He grabbed her hand again. "We're allowed to hold hands."

Rose sniffed, straightening her Ravenclaw tie with her free hand. Secretly, she'd wanted to be a Gryffindor, like the Potters, or, despite its ghastly reputation, a Slytherin, like Scorpius, but her mother told her to be proud of her house, and so she was. The first step to house pride is a smart uniform.

The red and black train stopped and opened its door towards them. Lily, it being her first year, cried out at the sight, causing Harry and Ginny to chuckle. Hugo, clutching Hermione's hand, beamed at it and hugged his parents hurriedly before mounting the beast.

"Bye then," Ron said with a laugh. Hermione shook her head as if in disgrace, but a smile toyed with the side of her lips.

Rose turned to look at Lily.

Two girls – identical twins – shuffled towards Lily before patting her on the shoulder.

"Yes?" said Lily.

"Uh, excuse me, are you a first year?" asked one of them.

Lily nodded.

"And is that your father?" asked the other, indicating towards Harry.

Lily nodded again.

The girls grinned and said in perfect synchronization, "You must be Lily Potter! You're famous, you are… well, your dad is."

Lily giggled. "Yeah, I am."

"I'm Lauren. Lauren Finnigan. This is my sister Lizbeth." The first girl pointed at the second girl.

"Hello! Do you want to sit on the carriage with me?" asked Lily.

"Yes please," Lizbeth said, and Lauren beamed.

They walked away, debating about which house they would prefer to be in.

Rose turned her head from the scene and saw a dark-skinned angel running towards her that happened to be her best friend, Matilda Thomas. Rose had always yearned to be her – maybe she would stand a chance with sexy, intimidating, yet so kind Scorpius. Her glossy black hair was always perfectly straight; her rich brown eyes were wide and full of emotion. Her lips were full and pink, despite her dark skin. Hell, any girl who saw her instantly radiated jealousy like a pheromone. Rose had always feared maybe Scorpius felt the same way about her that all the other boys did. She was Pureblood, tall, slender, beautiful and hilarious. What's more to want?

But a little, tiny piece of Rose died inside whenever Scorpius looked her way… at Matilda.

"Uh, Rose, hello?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Hey, Tilly!" Rose shot Matilda her best fake smile. Albus, being Albus, saw straight through it, but he pressed his lips together until they were nothing but a flat line and said nothing. Matilda, however, was satisfied, and grinned back the grin that knocked out guys left right and centre.

"Hey, I haven't seen you all summer? Are you sitting with me?"

Rose grimaced. "Tilly, you know I sit with Al. I do it every year."

"Okay, well I'll see you there Rose," said Matilda.

Rose waved goodbye.

"Wait, Rose? Introduce me to your older cousin sometime. He looks good enough to eat!" Matilda licked her lips suggestively and sashayed away, through the train doors and away to find a carriage that would take her – not a hard job for her.

James suddenly perked up from where he was slouching as he spotted his friends. He'd grown about a foot over the summer and it was obvious the girls loved it. Rose was sure one girl fainted. God, if she wasn't related to them, Rose would find the Potters immensily attractive. What a gene pool.

"There's Matt. Bye Mum, bye Dad. See you next year," said James, before giving them a fleeting hug and leaving. He hugged Matt (but managed to make it manly of course), his idiot of a friend, with a golden tooth, an eyebrow piercing and an extremely dark sense of humour. Rose hated him with a burning passion, the git.

Then he hugged Ryan, who was so tall you could compare it to being a human giraffe – six foot seven – blond and kind, saying hello to Rose every time they passed each other in the corridors last year.

Finally was his beautiful girlfriend, who was a petite brunette with shocking blue eyes and a smug smile. She always, _always _wore a white hair clip in her dark wavy hair.

James gave her a sweet, lingering kiss on the lips before vanishing like Matilda into the train with his group.

Rose turned back to Albus, who was staring at her with an exasperated grin on his face.

"Finished ogling my family?" he asked.

Rose smirked and nodded, before taking Albus' hand and leading him onto the train to find a carriage. They'd left it very late, due to Rose's staring, but Albus was generally a friendly, likeable person, much like his father, so Rose suspected they'd have no trouble squeezing into a half-full one.

The lights twinkled down onto the train corridor. Rose had always despised the blinding artificial light in hospitals, clinics and schools, but the train lights were soft and homey, not shocking. They enhanced the red of the walls and threw the curls in the rug below Rose's feet into relief.

She awoke with a gasp from her dreamy wandering. Thinking about _decorations_? She was turning into Aunt Ginny. Only Albus' hand on hers kept her going in the right direction, along with helpful nudges from the students behind her, attempting to pass her.

Rose and Albus walked the length of the train and alas, no empty carriages. The only one with room for two people was a Slytherin carriage near the back. Inside was Delilah Kyte, the foulest girl you could ever meet, and Scorpius, the boy she had a possessive infatuation with. Scorpius kept his eyes on the ground, a contorted smile on his face displaying his awkwardness. Kyte kept an imprisoning arm around his shoulders at all times, and it seemed sometimes she was holding him down to stop him escaping.

Kyte wasn't a pretty girl, not at all, with her greasy, dirty blonde hair wild around her face. Her nose was slightly crooked, a lingering reminder of the giant brawl between the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and the Gryffindor Quidditch team last year. Her eyes were too big, and the lashes too short to match their bulging state. Their colour was ugly too – the most disgusting shade of green, the colour of vomit, mucus and swamp water.

Nevertheless, Rose felt a pang of jealousy as she gazed in through the carriage window alongside Albus.

"Ugh, it's Malfoy," Albus groaned.

The more Rose glowered at Kyte, the more she longed to be in the carriage, keeping a watchful eye on Scorpius. She turned to Albus. "Come on, Al, at least it has spaces."

"I don't like it, Rose, not at all."

"You can't be picky. We left it too late to get a good carriage."

"That was your fault."

Rose sniffed self-righteously. "I'll go in myself then." She rapped on the carriage door before sliding it across. Smiling, she asked Scorpius, "Do you mind if I share your carriage? Everywhere else is full."

"No," said Kyte.

_I wasn't asking you_, Rose thought, but she didn't dare say it for she did have a pretty face in her opinion, even if it was nothing on Matilda's.

"Ignore her," said Scorpius, beaming. "Of course you can."

Rose stepped inside and settled herself into the cushioned seating opposite of Scorpius. As she wriggled into a snug position, Albus entered the carriage and sat beside her with a groan. Rose smiled triumphantly.

Ignoring the murderous glares radiating from Kyte, Rose smiled, staring right at Scorpius.

This was going to be a bumpy ride.

* * *

**Yes, yes it is. :3**

**Thank you for reading. I am looking forward to come RosexScorpius action next chapter. Stupid Kyte. In my head she looked like Severus Snape's genderbend. Disgusting -shudder-**

**Reviews are cousins holding hands cutely, unashamed, plus a handful of chocolate chip cookies thrown in.**

**Toodles!**

**PIMP**


	6. Her Pure Blue Eyes

**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER. (Wish I did though.)**

* * *

It started to rain soon after Rose and Albus arrived in the carriage; fat droplets pounded against the windows of the Hogwarts Express. They couldn't understand what had happened. The sky had been a beautiful baby blue a few hours previous, but now it was covered with a blanket of miserable stormy grey cloud. Every once in a while, a radiant, luminous, jagged fork of lightning shot down from the sky and stabbed the earth some way away, its startling light hitting the sides of the children's faces. Rose gripped her seat when the thunder started. It rumbled deep and low, like an irritable Cyclops awakening from a long slumber.

"Aren't you going to count, Rose?" asked Albus.

"Count what?" Rose enquired, attempting to keep her voice level as another round of thunder rattled the train. Rose wasn't scared of much, but thunder got to her like nothing else.

Scorpius looked away from the window, as he was watching the storm grow in ferocity. "I think he means counting elephants."

"_Counting elephants?_ Is that some stupid Muggle tradition or something?" Kyte sneered.

Ignoring her, Scorpius continued, "You know, counting seconds, to see how far away the heart of the storm is. From my numbers, I'd say it was alarmingly close."

Rose flinched. "Not helping," she said.

"Are you scared of thunder, Rose?" asked Scorpius.

Rose nodded frantically.

Kyte laughed coldly. "That's stupid! Why would something as obviously harmless and naturally-occurring as a thunder storm? I mean, what the—"

A boy with greasy brown hair and square glasses came hurtling down the corridor, his large, booted feet slamming into the carpet strong enough to shake the loose door on Rose's carriage. Rose sighed with relief when he passed, as his clomping feet reminded her of the vibrations the thunder shot up the side of the train, but then the boy backtracked. He'd obviously run down the corridor with such power he'd skipped his destination. His hands – gigantic to match his feet – shoved open the loose sliding door to the carriage with more energy than needed, which caused the door to bang on the end of the frame and shudder.

Gasping, the boy said, "Delilah Kyte? Your brother – Nathanial – he's threatening to kill himself – asking for you – should come, hurry…" He collapsed against the doorframe, clutching his chest.

Kyte rolled her eyes. "Nathan… he's probably moping again about how his best friend got Head Boy instead of him. I'm coming, I'm coming… Wait for me, Scorpius, will you? If I come back in time, of course."

Scorpius grunted, which Kyte took as an agreement, as she smiled and flounced away down the hallway to seek out her said brother. Rose would never get that imagine out of her mind. She didn't know that Delilah Kyte was capable of smiling. It was quite hideous though, the way her thin, chapped lips warped into what she supposed was a friendly expression, one her facial muscles weren't used to, from the looks of it.

"I was wondering why Delilah Kyte never smiled. Now I know why," said Albus as he shuddered.

Rose burst out laughing, and Scorpius, despite him and Albus being mortal enemies since first year, looked like he was biting his tongue to restrain his own laughter, too.

Scorpius was pretty when he was trying not to laugh.

Well, _Merlin_, he was pretty _all_ the time.

Inside and outside.

Rose realised she was staring.

But she didn't care.

She then realised.

Maybe…

Just maybe…

She had a crush…

On Scorpius Malfoy…

_Oh no_.

**3 Hours Later**

"…And so I said to him, 'I have a thing with girls with blue eyes'," said Scorpius, raising one eyebrow.

Rose giggled, her eyes glistening with affection. Albus nudged her with his elbow, rolling his eyes with a sigh.

"What, Al?" said Rose with annoyance.

"Nothing," Albus mumbled.

"Good, because nothing's going on with – we're here! Al, Albus, look!"

"Huh?" Albus turned to the window and beamed at the silhouette of the majestic castle of Hogwarts.

The light from the castle windows shone eerily through the mist that had settled after the storm. The towers climbed high into the cloudbank, thin cylinders reaching upwards to touch the sky. The castle was aging, there was no doubt, but with the help of magic the grey stone was stable, the grass was green and trimmed, the weeds non-existent. Archway after archway led the way through a maze of gravel pathways outside of the castle, to reach places such as the Forbidden Forest. Although it was taboo to go into the Forbidden Forest, on the outskirts was a little hut filled with rusty tools, each with a distinct purpose in Care of Magical Creatures, a subject Rose was looking forward to starting this year. Hermione and Ron had said that the said little cabin was once home to a half-giant named Hagrid, whom Rose hadn't met, for he had migrated into France to study his own kind. Rose couldn't imagine anyone finding solace in such a cramped, creaky, rotting hut, let alone a half-giant.

The gravel pathways with their solid stone archways also led to the Quidditch Pitch, if you went right instead of left. Rose hadn't ever been one for Quidditch, but the Potters were ecstatic, especially Albus, the Gryffindor Seeker ("Just like my dad," said Albus proudly. Scorpius, the Slytherin Seeker, sneered.) She couldn't see how different it was from Muggle basketball herself, except with broomsticks and more balls, plus an extra player thrown in there to make it interesting.

Then again, the majority of her classmate didn't know what basketball was, or hockey, or tennis, or even football, the best known Muggle sport in the world. Having a Muggle-born mother ensured you knew all about Muggles. In fact, the only reason Rose elected to join Muggle Studies class this year, the '_soft option_', was because she was confident she'd excel, almost as well as a Muggle-born would.

To be honest, when they had received their choice options at the end of second year, she'd wanted to tick everything, like Hermione did, but there was no way of being able to attend all of the classes, as all of the Time Turners had been destroyed, so she picked all of the lessons that che could cram into her week, despite her having eight classes a day.

She really was born a Ravenclaw.

Hogwarts Express pulled in at the little station with a hiss and a puff of steam.

"First years, please come this way. First years only, come this way. First years, follow me, this way!" Professor Henchwood, the Charms professor, called out. Small children came flocking to her call, most of which were only to her waist, bless them.

Albus leapt out of his seat, hurriedly slid the carriage door across and launched himself on his long legs down the hallway. "Lily, Lily!" he cried.

A short, redheaded girl with long eyelashes and glittering brown eyes wheeled around on her heels, clad in brand new, pitch black Hogwarts robes. "Yeah, Al?"

"Good luck," said Albus, pulling his frail sister into his arms. He buried his face into her hair with a smile.

"Thanks, Albus, but I think I'll be okay." Lily beamed, before wiggling out of Albus' arms and darting off to catch up to the twins she met earlier.

Rose approached Albus, before taking his hand, intertwining their fingers. "Let's find a cart, okay?"

Albus nodded, swinging their arms together in a jolly fashion.

"May Scorpius join us?" asked Rose.

"No," said Albus.

"Hah," Scorpius snorted, "as if I wanted to ride in a cart with you anyway. I do have my own friends you know. I sit with them."

Rose looked back at Scorpius, who was just stepping over the threshold of the carriage he had not yet vacated. With a sad smile she said, "It was just a thought. Maybe some other time."

Scorpius snorted again and walked past her to the train exit. He only looked back once, and Rose's disappointed face, and it seemed that he looked disappointed too, but Rose was stupid to think he'd want to sit in a cart with the Potter and Weasley duo. Of course he had his own friends, he was kind and popular. He wouldn't regret not sitting with them.

But his face when he looked back said different.

Rose was scared to get her hopes up, but was a friendship possible? Could she persuade Albus and Scorpius to get over their grudges, passed down by their parentage, and be at least acquaintances?

It was like defying the laws of physics, or breathing in space. Impossible.

"Uh, Rose? _Rose?_"

"Oh, sorry, Al!"

Rose couldn't help it. She just got that fluttery feeling inside, like a butterfly trapped in her ribcage, when Scorpius looked into her glistening, affectionate, pure blue eyes.

* * *

**Thank you for reading, enjoy the love-at-first-sight. I haven't actually included much Scorpius x Rose-ness, which wounds me, for I would just love to write them snogging in a broom cupboard…**

**Rose: Hey!**

**… But that isn't Rose's style. She's classy.**

**Scorpius: Oh, so I'm not classy? A **

**Hugo: What about me?**

**STAY OUT OF THIS, HUGO, YOU BORINGLY INNOCENT CHILD.**

**Hugo: ; n ;**

**Reviews are Rose's blue eyes and Hagrid's hut – which is now full of tools for fighting dragons and all sorts of funky stuff like that.**

**Mwah!**

**PotterIsMyPatronus.**


	7. Of Sorting Hats and Snacks

**Squishy. That is all. Enjoy the chapter… 7**

* * *

The black leather seats in the carriages to Hogwarts were so _squishy _(**a/n: Y****es.**) and silky Rose felt that if she leaned back, she could sink right into its plush comfort. The train journey was exhausting, and she found keeping her head upright difficult. She would enjoy a good night's sleep in her new third year dormitory.

In fact, she was so drowsy she missed most of what Albus was saying.

"… are Thestrals," said Albus.

"Uh, sorry, what?" mumbled Rose, lifting a clenched fist to rub her drowsy eye.

Albus smiled sympathetically and repeated, slower and clearer than before, "Dad says that the things pulling the carriage are Thestrals."

Rose was about to answer, when a horde of pretty girls sashayed past to find a cart.

"Hello, Albus," they chorused as they passed Rose's cart, flicking their glossy, streaked hair seductively. When he waved to them, they all flushed bright red and ran away, giggling about how attractive he was. As soon as they had passed, Rose continued.

"You can see them?" Rose was horrified. Her hands closed over her mouth to muffle a terrified cry — who had Albus seen... who did he... how...?

Albus shook his head with a sad laugh. "No, thank Merlin. But Mum and Dad can."

"My mum and dad can too," Rose replied. She suddenly became extremely interesting in her hands, fingers interlacing into one another.

The Battle of Hogwarts was a soul-scarring event, one that cropped up in nightmares after years, changed your life, snatched away your loved ones, Hermione and Ron said. Of course, they hadn't gone into detail, to protect their precious daughter's innocent ears, but they said it wasn't something anyone wanted repeated, and if it wasn't for Harry they'd both probably be dead, as Ron was a blood traitor and Hermione was Muggle-born. Death took Uncle Fred from them. Death stole Teddy's parents. Death had a habit of coveting precious things that other people value. Rose wanted to believe that someday, Death could be conquered, but if the only way to conquer Death is to sacrifice the lives of others, Rose didn't believe it should be conquered. She almost cried thinking about it.

But she didn't, because she wasn't that kind of girl.

Rose suddenly found that she was leaning on Albus' shoulder, heavy eyes succumbing to sleep. The voices of the girls in the cart behind her were a thrum in the stormy air of twilight, yet still distinguishable.

"_Ugh, he's hugging her? They can't be dating. I mean, she's too ugly for him."_

"_I know right?"_

Rose untangled herself from Albus and sucked in a deep breath to exclaim about them being cousins, but Albus' hand shot out with a speed that came from being an extremely talented Seeker, crushed against her mouth.

"Give them the benefit of the doubt," whispered Albus, a grin toying at the sides of his lips.

When he was confident Rose wasn't going to scream out and draw even more attention to them, he removed his hand from her mouth and guided her head back onto his shoulder. It would've been awkward were they both fully conscious, but they were too drowsy to care.

"You know what, Al?"

"Mm?"

"I love you."

Albus smiled lazily down at Rose. "I love you too."

Rose fought with her lethargic eyelids and managed to prise them open. "No, Al, you have to listen. You really mean a lot to me. You're like a tiny fragment of home that I can take with me to Hogwarts. You're like my twin. I can do whatever I want and I'll know you'll always be there for me, because I know that you love me and will stay with me until the very end. That means a lot to me, Albus, it does."

Albus' eyes widened with astonishment. Then he wrapped his arms around Rose's shoulders and pressed his face into her hair, like he hugged Lily, like cuddling a sibling. "You smell like home," he said.

Rose nodded into his shoulder. Hugging boys felt different than hugging girls. Matilda felt thin and bony, slender and average weight but the way girls normally feel – sharp and knobbly in places. Boys felt healthy. You could feel their bones but they were soft and not as uncomfortable to embrace.

"Thank you, Rose," Albus murmured, beaming.

"What are you thanking me for?"

"It's nothing, don't worry. But Rose, about Scorpius…"

Rose rolled her eyes, shuffling sideways on her seat so she could free her arms from Albus but still brace her head in the tiny dent between Albus' shoulder and the leather seat. "You killed the moment, Al."

"Rose, you need to stay away from him."

"What are you talking about?"

"You can't date him."

Rose bristled. "I wasn't planning on it."

Albus seized her by her arms and forced her to stare into his eyes. "Rose, humour me. I've always been able to tell when you lie."

"_I don't give a damn_," Rose almost shouted, tearing her arms out of Albus' grip. "Who are _you_ to choose who I can date? Girls are crazy about you and your brother, and you don't see _me _making a fuss!"

"You know that isn't at all what I'm talking about."

He was staring her down. He had that strange look in his eyes sometimes that made you think he was gazing down through your eyes into your soul, examining it. The way he held his stare made you feel like he was inspecting you, invading your mind. Albus knew it. Rose was going to break – it was a matter of time. Just a few more seconds…

Rose broke, slumping down in her seat, crossing her arms over her chest and glowering at the swelling shadow that was Hogwarts. She'd have to endure a few more minutes of the tense atmosphere before she could escape to the refuge of the Ravenclaw table. She could – she must – stay silent.

That's what Rose kept telling herself, but she knew she'd already lost. She took Albus' hand and sighed.

"You can't win against me, Rosie," said Albus, smirking.

Rose groaned, but clung to his fingers like she was her most precious possession. "How do you do it, Al? It's goddamn annoying!"

"Hey, I'm a Seer."

"No you're not."

"I got top marks on my Divination homework."

"You made half of it up out of the top of your head. I can't see why you got early admission to Divination anyway. It's worthless, Mum says so."

"That's just because she failed."

Rose stuck her pointy pink tongue out at Albus.

The carriage continued down the bumpy road to Hogwarts, dipping into potholes and jerking over particularly large pebbles. When Rose and Albus stopped bickering for a while, and Rose listened closely, you could hear the clopping of ghostly hooves on the gravel, the traces of the Thestrals Rose and Albus were grateful they couldn't see.

Rose and Albus climbed down from the cart together after it pulled up outside of the Hogwarts doors. The sky had fully darkened now, and pale traces of the pallid moon streaked the wisps of clouds remaining after the raging storm. The dim moonbeams still managed to taint the candlelight beside the doors to Hogwarts, and catch in Scorpius' light hair as he dismounted the cart. His grey eyes caught Rose's blue and he waved, receiving a warm wave back. The wave was disturbed, however, by Albus, who caught Rose by the upper arms and steered her through the doors.

"Hey, stop touching me so much, Albus!" cried Rose.

"Don't flatter yourself, idiot," Albus retorted, giving her a final shove over the high threshold.

Rose stumbled on the step but braced herself against the castle walls. "_Watch_ it, freak!"

Rolling his eyes, Albus asked with acid dripping from his voice, "What happened to '_I love you, Albus_'?"

"That was deep, don't deny it. You were touched."

"Indeed, I was. Don't distract me, I saw you staring at Malfoy—"

"—Scorpius."

"—_don't interrupt me_, I'm ranting."

"Sorry, please continue." Rose curtseyed mockingly.

"No, I've lost my train of thought. Just… remember, he's a Slytherin, okay?"

Rose crossed her arm across her chest and pouted in what she hoped was a dominant manner, and not childish. "Albus," she said, "I'm a Ravenclaw. I don't have an eternal rivalry with them."

Albus shot her a look impregnated with venom to kill small mammals. "You know what I mean, Rose…"

"_ALBUS!_"

"Oh shit, not her again…"

A bouncy blonde threw her arms around his neck from behind, swerving him around. "Albus, you didn't reply to my letters." The girl pouted, painfully prettier than Rose did it, Rose realised. She'd have to practice.

"You sent me three a day, Ciara," said Albus. "Every day."

"But I missed you!" Ciara hugged – or more like crushed – Albus again. "And you've gotten so sexy this summer."

Albus groaned. "Everyone keeps telling me that."

With a gasp, Ciara linked arms with Albus and started ushering him away to the Main Hall, where the feast was almost ready to begin. "I _won't _let them have you, baby, I _won't_!"

Albus craned his neck back and after mouthing, _Help_, to Rose, he disappeared through the doors and left Rose on her own. Rose let herself be nudged by the impatient crowd through after him, bewildered and alone. She'd forgotten how it felt to be away from Albus at the Welcome Feast. He was like her shadow most of the time. In order to not look like a complete loner, Rose re-joined Matilda at the Ravenclaw table and helped herself to the nibbles being served.

The Headmaster, Professor Bolden, tapped his wand against a gilded music stand at the front of the hall, incrusted with gems of all of the house colours. A wave of silence spilled over the room.

Rose didn't listen to the Headmaster's speech, for she knew it was only going to be his droning voice telling them how lucky they were to have a roof over their heads for the summer and a family that loved them. Yes, yes, Rose was grateful, but she only cared about the Sorting, for Hugo and Rose were to be sorted this year.

"And now, for the Sorting," concluded Professor Bolden, as a skinny female teacher scurried away into the corner of the room and withdrew from a small bag, charmed with an Undetectable-Extension Charm, the Sorting Hat, which she handed to the Headmaster.

Rose slowly chomped through nut after nut, the sound of her teeth clicking together a background for the Sorting Hat's new poem, which was, as usual, about unity and peace. The first years filed into the room, led by the boisterous, feisty, excitable Lily, and finished with Hugo trailing in behind, scuffing his feet on the floor.

"Acrewood, Zelda."

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Boone, Nicholas."

"SLYTHERIN!"

Rose's brother would be near the back, due to the last name Weasley. Assured that her munching wouldn't prevent her from hearing anyone important, she confidently reached for another nut.

"Louis, Egg."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

What an unfortunate boy, with the last name Egg. The Slytherins sniggered as he settled down at the Hufflepuff table, face bright red.

"Houston, Forest."

"RAVENCLAW!"

Rose beamed at the particularly short, dark-skinned boy as he passed her on his way down to find a seat at the table.

"Longbottom, Opalia."

A tall, dreamy-looking girl with an elfishly pointed face, stunning violet eyes and platinum hair settled into the chair. Who was she?

Then Rose remembered. Longbottom… she must be Professor Longbottom's daughter. She'd met Luna a couple of times, and found her rather amusing.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Opalia nodded, seemingly to herself, before hopping off of the stool and exchanging a grin with Zelda.

"Normanton, Charles-Ethan."

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

"Potter, Lily."

"_Yes, finally!_" Lily hissed, before skipping up to the front.

She stared at the stool for a second, eyeing it up like a potential threat. With a shrug, she turned to clamber on, but before she'd even fully sat down, the Sorting Hat cried, "GRYFFINDOR. Gah, another one of those Potters."

Lily smirked. She danced her way over to the Gryffindor table, scooted into a tiny space beside Albus – to the dismay of the girl previously next to him – and said something that caused Albus to roll his emerald green eyes.

"Weasley, Hugo."

"Ugh, _another_ Weasley? How many kids does this woman _have_?" the Sorting Hat snorted.

"Uh, I-I'm not…"

"Whatever. HUFFLEPUFF!"

The Headmaster gave his final words before food appeared out of thin air, assortments of meats, vegetables, pastries and more, in all different colours, sizes and shapes. A bowl of exotic fruit was the obelisk on the table, so sacred it wasn't touched by anyone, as most were savaging their more unhealthy meals.

Rose caught Scorpius' gaze as Hugo scooted to the Hufflepuff table, and with no Albus to scold her, she stared.

He was so beautiful. His lengthy, pale fingers toyed with the piece of food before popping it into his mouth, brushing over his white teeth so very slightly in view. His lips subtly stroked the edges of the piece of food before closing over it with a grace that would make girls jealous. I glanced over at the girls nibbling daintily on their food, staring at either Albus, James or their boyfriend. They were nothing compared to him; Rose didn't even know human were capable of eating something like that.

Someone whacked Rose around the shoulder, causing her to wheel round and decapitate whoever did it. A dark-haired boy raised his hands in surrender.

"I'm sorry. Albus paid me ten Galleons to punch you if you stare at that Slytherin freak," the boy admitted.

"It's okay," said Rose with a fake smile. Under her breath she added, "He can't do that, he can't control me. He's not my _dad_."

"I'm close enough," said Albus, zipping to her side with a demonic smirk.

"A cousin isn't anything_ like_ a dad!"

"At least we're blood related, that counts," Albus insisted.

Rose wanted to feast her eyes on the godly beauty that was Scorpius, but she knew that she'd get a bruise tomorrow from the first punch, and she didn't want another on top, so she restrained her head and kept her eyes on Albus. She was starting to hate third year, she really was.

She_ really was_.

* * *

**Thank you for reading. I like to think that Hugo's life is like what Neville's was if he was in Hufflepuff. They are very alike. Ron and Hermione thought Hugo was a Squib until he was eight, did you know that? No? That's because I just made it up on the spot. I like it though so it stays.**

**Stop being so possessive, Albus, it sounds like they're either dating or super close. You wouldn't think they were cousins by the way the act, so I don't blame those girls, but for Merlin's sake, bouncy blonde girl, get away from my man! Sorry James, but I'm falling in love with your grandson. I promise there will be more Rose x Scorpius next chapter. MY GOD, THE TENSION IS KILLING MEHH~ ; A ; … I wonder if Scorpius has actually caught on yet?**

**Well, it's an early stage. Let's all chill for now.**

**Reviews are endless snacks w and Neville's beautiful daughter who Luna named (obviously).**

**Mwah!**

**PIMP.**


	8. His Broken Resolve

**Ah, at last, Scorpius x Rose action. Sorry this took me so long, I was having inspiration issues. School had broken up for the half term holidays now so I can do this, but I'm so happy I managed to get this out. My inspiration was making my hands shake, literally, today. ; U ; I'm so happy. This came out so much better than I imagined.**

**Enjoy!**

**Harry Potter and characters © J K Rowling**

* * *

Rose rushed to Defence Against the Dark Arts with her stomach growling. Yeah, she'd definitely eaten too fast, but she didn't want a late detention on her first day of the school year. Rose did have long legs, but she couldn't get them moving any quicker.

When she rounded the corner to pass through the Charms corridor, a well-known shortcut, she was greeted by a bustling crown of first years, trying and failing to line up in an orderly fashion. They were all Gryffindors. Hah, Rose didn't see the new Gryffindor prefect, who happened to be her cousin, James, anywhere around. She'd known he'd duff up from the start.

Rose swung her backpack from her back and struggled under its weight in her hand as she squeezed through the gaps between the first years.

Just as she thought she was out of the woods, a well placed nudge sent her flying forward. She closed her eyes after a blur of the walls, the floor and the candles flew by.

But she didn't fall, and she could feel arms around her. Oh, Merlin, she's fallen into someone, and her ankle didn't feel too good either. She could feel it lolling to one side after being landed on awkwardly. However, although she knew the pain would burst forward like a firework later on, she was distracted by the burning blush in her face. The body was male – she could feel that from her head on their shoulder.

_Please be Albus_, she begged internally, _please be Albus_…

She opened her eyes and saw herself staring right at an emerald green Slytherin crest on someone's robes. Oh no, not Albus then. Worst of all, she'd landed on a _Slytherin_! What confused her was why she hadn't been dropped like she was something dirty and diseased. Gingerly, she placed her hands on the top of the mystery saviour's shoulders and glanced up at their face.

Her blue eyes found the grey ones, which were lined with concern.

"Whoops, Rose! Are you okay?" Scorpius asked.

Rose allowed herself to be supported for a few more seconds, mesmerized by the smoky glaze in Scorpius' eyes, but then the spell broke, and she jerked up in alarm.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you! Well, I think I might've sprained my ankle, but it'll be okay," Rose babbled, smiling through the heat on her face.

"I'll escort you to the Hospital Wing."

"I'm fine, honestly," Rose insisted, and Scorpius might've believed her if not for the fact that her left leg buckled, her ankle being so weak she couldn't apply any pressure to it. Before she could protest further, Albus had wrapped a strong arm around her shoulders and was bracing her.

Rose's eyes widened, the sensation of his touch bubbling in her blood. It was after a few moments that she was aware of Scorpius staring in anticipation right at her. She swallowed, and took a hesitant step forward, only for her legs to give in. She would've done a face-plant right there in front of Scorpius if not for his strength. She was lucky the first years had already filed into class, as Lily seeing her epic tumble would just about kill her, but somehow having Scorpius witness it would make it worse. Rose regained her balance and prepared to try again.

Scorpius sighed. "Rose, you can't even walk."

"I'll be—"

"Don't say the word 'fine.' I have to figure out… well I could… no it'd be awkward… or… I have no choice, do I…?"

"Scorpius?"

As quick as lightning, Scorpius had shot his arms out and literally swept Rose off of her feet. To avoid being launched up into the air, Rose clung to Scorpius's neck, fists clenching around the dark fabric of his robes. His body heat radiated off of him and Rose soaked it up into her, allowing it to douse the pain in her ankle.

"Put me _down_, Scorpius Malfoy!" screamed Rose, kicking her legs with as much force as her ankle allowed her, but it was too late; Scorpius had already started walking in the direction of the Hospital Wing.

"Scorpius, I _demand _you release me at once," cried Rose once again, in vain.

"Why on earth would I do that? You'd fall over," said Scorpius. "And you do feel ever so enticingly warm in my arms."

A shiver of desire shot through Rose. "Y-you did not just say that."

Smirking, Scorpius said, "Hm, I thought I did."

"This is so embarrassing."

"Okay, okay, I'll stop now. You just… I thought we were becoming friends."

"You want to be friends?" said Rose, astonished.

Scorpius looked… bashful. She'd seen the awkward look on his many times but bashful was something he just _didn't do_. "Well, yeah. You're really nice, and I need hair tips."

"You need _hair tips_? Did I mishear you or something?" Rose withdrew partially to raise her eyebrows at Scorpius.

"Your hair is always so silky and perfect, and I want hair like that," laughed Scorpius. "Girls dig it."

Rose couldn't stop herself – she twirled a strand of red hair around her finger. "I don't do anything with my hair."

"It's natural? Well, _damn_."

Rose smiled sweetly, causing Scorpius' eyes to widen. "Your hair is perfect anyway."

Rose released her own lock and lifted her hands to comb her fingers through his platinum hair. His eyes fluttered closed for a brief moment with what Rose assumed to be the sensation of someone's fingers in his hair. But the spell broke after the fleeting blushing moment, as Scorpius couldn't keep his eyes closed for long without bashing them both into a wall.

There was silence after that moment, with only the resounding echo of Scorpius' shoes on the floor. He took long strides, due to the length of his legs, but he was always steady and level, and he clutched onto Rose like a life flotation to ensure there was no chance of her slipping. He didn't want her hurt even more.

Rose was dying with the itching lust to run her hands all over him and lock him in her arms so he could never escape, but resting her hands lightly on his back, just tracing the ridges of his spine, would suffice for now. Semi-consciously, she drew miniature circles around the grooves his backbone made, memorizing the dips and bumps with her index finger. The only sound in the perfect, hushed silence was Scorpius' groan, which erupted, muffled, from him randomly. Rose worried that she'd hurt him, so she tucked her fingers back into her palm and sat in the comfort of his arms quietly and hesitantly for the rest of the way.

The heat, drifting in waves from Scorpius' body, made Rose drowsy, and her heavy eyes were starting to droop when Scorpius stopped, jolting her awake. She clung to him.

"Uh, Rose, you can let go now," said Scorpius, bearing a sheepish grin.

Rose's eyelids fluttered and widened. "Oh," she said, cautiously descending from his arms and unwrapping her own from his neck, "sorry."

The doors to the Hospital Wing were open wide, and Rose could see the back of Miss Logan, crouching over a first year with rather peculiar green goo crawling and munching on his face. There were two Quidditch injuries, probably from the last game between Slytherin and Gryffindor, which apparently had a lot of fouls, although Rose wouldn't really ever be sure, and she didn't go. Rose hopped through the doors.

Miss Logan turned around from where she was fishing through a medical bag and smiled at Rose. She approached quickly; she was clutching a navy blue bottle of God knows what.

"Hey, dear, what ya 'ere for?" said Miss Logan, her young, gold-framed face beaming.

"Sprained my ankle," said Rose.

"Ah, I'll be able to fix that in a jiffy. Just let me finish with Timmy 'ere first, will ya? I, er…" She looked over at the first year, now screaming with laughter as the green goo tickled his neck.

Rose muffled a laugh. "Yeah, he needs the help more than I do at the moment."

"I guess I'll be going then," said Scorpius, as Miss Logan retreated to deal with the poor laughing child.

"Oh," replied Rose, endeavouring to mask her disappointment, "okay then."

Scorpius waved before turning back. In no time at all, he was out of the Hospital Wing, aided by his lengthy, black-clad legs. Suddenly, he turned back.

"Oi, Rose, you like reading, don't you?"

Rose nodded.

Scorpius dug in his school bag, took out a book and hurled it across the vast distance between the two of them. Rose lunged forward and managed to catch it.

"Nice catch." Scorpius grinned in appreciation.

Rose looked at the cover of the book. It was a night sky, with millions of stars and constellations studding it. Beside it was a couple, a beautiful blonde and an extremely handsome, dark-haired male. All across the cover was, in shiny, steely blue writing:

**I'm Not A Little Witch**

Rose raised her eyebrows and flipped it to scan the blurb. She snorted. "Uh, Scorpius, I don't read this sort of stuff."

"Yeah, I don't either, but my friend recommended it so I read it and even _I _enjoyed it, and that's saying something, as I'm not too big a fan of books. Trust me, you'll like it."

Rose laughed and waved goodbye again, but he had already turned and fled for the classroom.

All of a sudden, warm, lanky arms wrapped around her shoulders. Rose started to scream, when a smooth, dark hand covered her mouth. Rose flailed like a fish to escape the hands, but it was an iron grip, obviously coming from someone on the Quidditch team…

"Calm down, Rosie, it's me," laughed a female voice.

Rose wheeled round on her good leg and cried out, "Matilda! You scared the life out of me."

"I know. You practically had a heart attack."

"I _literally_ had a heart attack," corrected Rose, clutching her chest. "What are you in here for?"

"Bludger," said Matilda, pulling up her sleeve to reveal a red bandage… no, it was white, but soaked in blood. "What are you here for?"

"I tripped and sprained my ankle."

"What a surprise. You're so clumsy, Rose."

Rose snorted, rolling her eyes. "Like you can talk, Tilly."

Matilda arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow before starting an animated conversation about how hot the boys on the Hufflepuff team are without their shirts on. Rose completely zoned out, not in the least interested in any boy except—

"Scorpius!" cried Matilda.

"Huh?" said Rose.

"I was just speaking about Quidditch bodies… you weren't listening at all, were you? Ugh, anyway, Scorpius had about the hottest body I have ever seen! Ouch."

Rose was burning in jealousy. "Don't you have a boyfriend, Tilly?"

Matilda winked, giggling like crazy. She was mental when it came to boys – Rose just got used to it over the years. Suddenly, Matilda spotted the book Rose had tucked under her arm.

"_I'm Not a Little Witch_? My sister reads that series, but I didn't imagine you being one for them," said Matilda.

Rose blushed. "Well, a friend recommended it. I just thought, if he liked it why wouldn't I."

"_He_? A _male_ friend?"

"No, no! A slip of the tongue, I meant she!"

Matilda giggled and wrapped a smooth, dark arm around Rose's shoulders. "There's no evading it now, honey. Spill."

"There's nothing to tell," Rose lied. The heat on her face gave her away.

"You are such a terrible liar. Even if you weren't, I'd know _that_ wasn't true. Who was it?" Matilda seized Rose by the upper arms in her excitement.

Rose muttered Scorpius' name under her breath, but Matilda didn't hear. She only made a questioning little squeak.

"Scorpius Malfoy," Rose whispered, a little louder.

"_S__corpius__ M__alfoy__?_" Matilda shrieked.

Rose made frantic little shushing noises, clamping her hands over Matilda's mouth. She looked at Matilda with her wide blue eyes, and when she was certain Matilda wasn't going to freak out and knock over the bottle of Skele-Gro on the desk, she removed her hands. She said in a tiny voice, "Nobody can know."

"So you like him?" asked Matilda.

"No! He was just being friendly."

Matilda shrugged, flopping backwards onto the hospital bed behind her. "Whatever you say, Rose."

Rose was about to retort when Miss Logan came to her. She wasn't going to swear in front of the innocent Healer, so she bit her tongue and vowed to remember her amazing comeback for later.

* * *

– _**Scorpius Malfoy – **_

Scorpius wandered the corridors to her DADA class, where he would explain the reason for missing twenty minutes of the lesson. The professor would understand, and even if he didn't, Scorpius would probably be let off the hook. He did have, after all, an extremely good reputation, which was probably a combination of results, behaviour and, unfortunately, blood status.

He lifted his wrist and stared down at the little blue lines criss-crossing across it, each filled with blood. Blood didn't turn red until it was oxygenated, he'd learnt as a child. He now understood there was something special about his blood. What he couldn't understand was why.

Why was pure blood any better than other blood. If it was magical, that's all that matters, right? What makes Muggle-born blood contaminated, like Scorpius' father always said? Scorpius' blood was most likely half-blood anyway, just the Muggle part had got lost in the centuries, or stamped out. The latter was most probable.

On the outside, it made no difference. For example, Rose Weasley was a Half-blood and she was the prettiest girl Scorpius had ever seen…

_Damn_! He'd let his thoughts drift to Rose again. He'd promised to stay away. What made her any better than another girl? Scorpius, with his light hair, smoky eyes and famous Malfoy smirk, could have any girl he wanted, so why pick the one he couldn't have? He'd tried for two years to stay away from her, to simply wave hello and goodbye to her when they passed each other and leave it at that. He'd tried to ignore her when he and Albus got into fights. He'd attempted, though how successful he was he didn't know, to throw himself into other relationships fully, and to act as though it was what he wanted. He also attempted to make a false pretence for himself – staring at Matilda with a fake longing. He'd always been a good actor.

But that was over now, after today. He'd let himself get attached, just like his father did. Scorpius glanced down at his wrists again, to check that there were no shackles binding them together. He felt at his neck, avoiding the warm spot where Rose had put her head earlier, to assure himself there was no leash. Yet, he was bound.

He'd created a wall for himself from the beginning, a resolve. He'd gone through school, fitting in with his fellow Slytherins, suppressing his beliefs and emotions, and all the while glancing sideways at Rose. Still, he kept his resolve.

He started faking his affection for Matilda, staring at her, smiling – not a hard feat, as she wasn't at all an ugly girl, even if she was nothing compared to Rose. He didn't want to hurt Rose's feelings, but his resolve was worth more. He couldn't let himself get attached – he would get trapped.

When Rose sat in his carriage on the train, he felt a deep crack slit through his resolve. He did have to thank Delilah Kyte for something. Her presence, her fawning over him with her creepy obsession, kept his resolve from shattering completely. He could keep up his false pretence, buy time, and with it, he could mend his resolve.

But it was all over now. He was staggering a little down the hallway, bewildered by his thoughts. He reached out in front of him for the comfort of his resolve, and only felt shards of it in his hands. The granular pieces trickled through his fingers. With a sigh, he closed his eyes.

Yes. His resolve broke when Rose fell into his arms. He'd lost the battle. There was a queer lightness in his heart.

The fighting was over. Even when he lost, he won.

* * *

**YES, YES, YES. I LOAF IT.**

**This is starting to sound a little like Twilight though… ( ._.) I don't like Twilight, at all. I will ensure that it is not contaminated by Twilight.**

**Reviews are Scorpius being dramatic and depressed. And carnivorous goo.**

**Mwah!**

**PIMP.**


	9. Of Potions and Predictions

**Beware. Rose is in a bad mood. If you feel like you are experiencing pain reading this, please tell me. Rose may have made a Voodoo doll of you. You have been warned.**

* * *

Tuesday was miserable, but what else could be expected? It was England, the weather was always bad, and when it wasn't, everyone had water fights because you knew it wasn't going to last. Rose was not looking forward to her first lesson of the day – Divination – but at least she had Matilda with her. Rose scoured the girls' dormitory for her book on identifying tea sediment, zeroed in on the tell-tale pink cover, and snatched it to shove to the bottom of her bag.

"Are you ready to go now, Rose?" Matilda called up from the Common room. "We're going to be late."

Rose exited the dorm and rushed down the stairs. "I'm coming," she cried.

Rose and Matilda hurried down the corridors with an awkward gait, somewhere between a walk and a run. Rose kept tripping over her own feet and Matilda kept pausing to tweak her hair, but eventually they arrived at the top of the winding staircase, hesitating at the door of the Divination classroom.

The smell was intoxicating, an overwhelming blend of roses, lavender and vanilla. The incense sticks releasing the fragrances poked out from a blue plant pot, home to a giant plant sprouting star-shaped flowers. They looked like little faces, with their hair being the petals. As soon as Rose got over the sickening blast of perfumed air, she could begin to acknowledge the golden fire crackling away in the corner of the room, and the little teacups lined up in the colours of the rainbow all across the windowsill. The curtains were patterned in the colours of the Union Jack, and bewitched to sparkle when the wind blew them. In the centre of the room were tables, each with a glass orb on them. Several students had already taken seats and were staring intensely into the glass, silently willing something to appear. Rose could see veins twitching in their temples.

"Ah, children, I've been expecting you," said an aging lady with huge round glasses that magnified her eyes.

"Uh, yeah, maybe because we're on the _register_?" retorted Matilda.

The professor completely ignored that remark, and smiling at Rose she said, "I am Professor Trelawney." She drew back a couple of steps to beam down at everyone else. "Welcome to your first Divination lesson. Well, first for some." She grinned right at Albus, who was attempting to hide behind a crystal ball – a hard feat, seeing as it was glass and therefore transparent.

Rose and Matilda took their seats beside Albus, making a triangle around the orb. Albus smiled at Rose, but his gaze settled on Matilda, who was gazing sceptically into the orb.

"Now, I want you to imagine your mind has a barrier, restraining your sixth sense from expanding. Let your Inner Eye swell up and fill your mind, and venture into the beyond!" Professor Trelawney threw her thin arms out into the distance, a dreamy glint in her eyes behind the glasses.

Rose rolled her eyes and hissed to Matilda, "What a load of rubbish."

Matilda nodded. Albus, however, was squinting into the orb, which was now emitting a sort of dim blue glow. Professor Trelawney looked delighted.

"Very good, Albus. Tell me, what did you see?" she asked.

"I... huh?" Albus glared at Rose for no reason. "Stay away from Scorpius, Rose."

Anger suddenly bubbled and exploded inside of Rose. It'd been brewing for a while now. Rose stood up abruptly, causing her chair to topple over and almost flatten a small Gryffindor behind her. "Where have I heard _that_ before?"

"Rose, I just saw it in the—"

Rose laughed, but it was humourless and forced. The glassy sound echoed around the room. "You saw it in the crystal ball? Am I addressing a _Seer_ now? Even if you Potters—" She spat the name. "—_are _good at everything, it doesn't mean you get to tell me what to do and who to date, you got that?" Rose was shaking from her anger. She reached behind and yanked her chair upright again, much to the relief of the Gryffindor.

Albus looked heartbroken. "Rose, I didn't say anything about dating anyone."

Rose sat down and said, "Do I look like I give a damn, Al?"

"Why are you having a go at me over this, Rose? It's not like I can control what I see in the crystal ball!"

"You didn't see anything!" Rose laughed again, harshly. Matilda was alternating between glaring at Rose and giving apologetic looks to Albus.

"Rose," said Albus, "I did see something."

"Ugh," Rose moaned. "Forget it." She was startled by her mood swing, but too embarrassed to apologize, so after glancing around to see if anyone had noticed – only the flattened Gryffindor's table had – she hid her face behind her Divination textbook and didn't say anything for the rest of the lesson.

As soon as class was over Rose got out of that tense classroom as fast as she could. She didn't want anyone around her, except one person she knew wouldn't come. She felt like she was suffering the world's worst hangover, except without the alcohol withdrawal. When Matilda danced to her side, she was screaming in her mind, _Go away!_

"What was up with you in Div, huh?" Matilda asked.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "_Div?_"

"You know, Divination," said Matilda.

"Yes, I gathered that. I don't know what happened." Rose hitched her bag higher up her shoulder.

"Well, it was one hell of a mood swing, Rosie."

Rose attempted a smile and said, "Well, I guess I'm starting to become a teenager."

"'Bout time!" Matilda laughed. "Half of the boys in school have already beaten you to it. Like Albus for example." Matilda's eyes glazed over.

Rose sent an elbow in the direction of her ribcage. "I do not permit you to fill your mind with revolting, gooey thoughts about my cousin in my presence."

"My apologies, your Majesty." Matilda did a mocking bow, a fatal error judging by the length of her skirt. Two fifth years from their own house gave a wolf-whistle, but were soon flipped off.

"Don't even—"

Scorpius came hurtling down the corridor, feet sliding over the floor, arms flailing; the entire act. When he saw Rose, he grinned and hurried towards her.

"Rose," he said, "I've been looking for you everywhere. We have Potions next, together, yeah? May I walk with you?"

Rose was startled by how friendly he was being despite his fellow Slytherins' scowling. "Why are you speaking to me?" asked Rose.

Scorpius frowned. "Is it a problem?"

"Oh, no, no!" cried Rose, blushing. "I'm sorry, I'm being so rude. I was just astonished by you talking to me. You are a Slytherin Pureblood after all, and I may not be a Gryffindor, but my parents… me being a blood traitor, I just…" Rose realised she was babbling and let her voice trickle away into silence.

Scorpius laughed, "I get it, I would be too. But I said I'd like to be friends yesterday, didn't I? You thought I wouldn't act on it?"

The red on Rose's face deepened in saturation. "I don't know, really…" She looked to Matilda for rescue, but she was gone. _Coward_.

"I don't give up easily, Rose. I'm a Malfoy; I'm not that kind of guy." He smirked devilishly, and extended his arm like a true gentleman. With an amused grin, Rose slid her and through it and clutched his sleeve as they started walking.

After a few paces, they withdrew their arms, as walking in that position was rather uncomfortable and caused their arms to ache. Rose was burning with the longing to rid him of his robes and crush her mouth to his, and was swimming in her fantasies of doing just that. A small, responsible part of her was scolding the majority of her brain for thinking such things, for being such a typical girl, but she shut it out for being such a killjoy. I mean, everyone needs to be irresponsible sometimes. And he _was_ beautiful. His hair was almost white, and sparkled under the touch of light. He could be awkward, hilarious, romantic or friendly, and sometimes even a hint of mischievousness, which caused Rose's nerves to tingle. He was an—

"Enigma," whispered Rose.

"What's an enigma?" asked Scorpius.

She said that out loud? She thought about making some random story up, but Albus' creepy ability to tell when she was lying made her paranoid, so she told the truth. "You. You're so strange and different. It's like you have multiple personalities – one day your living up to your reputation, flashing a Malfoy smirk at my best friend and flirting with fifth years. The next you ask to walk me to Potions. I don't get it."

"You're saying I have a multiple personality disorder?" Scorpius smirked.

Rose blushed. "I didn't mean it like—"

"I know." Scorpius' Malfoy smirk turned into a genuine smile, and his face darkened in colour as he met Rose's eyes. He quickly turned away. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something."

"Sure, anything," Rose assured him.

"I was wondering… would you like to go—"

"_ROSE!_" Albus ran up to them from behind, grabbed Rose by the wrist and pulled her away from Scorpius. Rose hadn't even realised how close they'd been, walking almost shoulder-to-shoulder. "Why are you alone with him?"

Rose squared her shoulders, giving Albus one of the looks she'd inherited from her mother. "Scorpius was being friendly and offered to walk me to Potions. What did you think, he was going to abduct me and lock me in Professor Longbottom's greenhouse?"

"Who knows, with his reputation. He's a player, Rose, don't forget that," Albus countered.

"He is not! From what I know, he is a perfectly nice—"

"Rose, it's okay, I'll speak to you later, yeah?" Scorpius smiled, twiddling his fingers. Huh, he only did that when he was truly embarrassed. He turned and rushed away.

"Scorpius," Rose called out quietly, reaching out her hand to the air where he had been before, "don't go…"

Albus grabbed Rose's wrist and hauled her away. "Let's get to class."

"Al, let me go!" Rose snarled as she yanked against his grip. Her strength was nothing to his. "Goddammit, Al, why did you have to hit puberty?"

Albus chuckled, and Rose stopped fighting, because no matter how much she liked Scorpius, she loved Albus more. They were blood related, and to be honest, he was a mixture of a brother and a best friend rather than a cousin. That was just the way it was, and would always be. No matter how much he thwarted her, irritated her and embarrassed her, she'd always love him.

"Merlin's pants! We are so late," moaned Albus.

"Run!" exclaimed Rose, and laughing breathlessly, they raced each other all the way to the dungeons.

"Late, Miss Weasley, Mr Potter. Five points from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw," said Professor Creevey. Albus and Rose groaned but didn't argue, as it could've been worse. They were lucky the professor used to be Harry Potter's second biggest fan, with Aunt Ginny taking the lead.

"Today we will be brewing an Antidote to Common Poisons. This potion is extremely useful, and it used to be handy to have a vial on you at all times. With people under the Imperius curse at every turn, and Death Eaters ready to jump out, who knows – someone might've slipped something in your drink just for being associated to a Muggle-born. Yes, the war may be over, but we must remember there are some people out there who thought You-Know-Who had the right idea."

Rose flinched, and beside her Matilda looked terrified.

"Therefore, despite the fact you will not be taking the completed potion out of this classroom, it is crucial you know how to brew it. The instructions can be found on page one-hundred-and-twenty-three of your book." Professor Creevey settled back down behind his desk and began paging through a Potion book.

Matilda leaned over the Potion book she and Rose were sharing. "What first?"

Rose scanned the lines of the book. "Three blobs of Flobberworm mucus."

"Flobberworm mucus?" Matilda repeated. She lifted a slimy green bottle. "You mean this?"

"That's the one," said Rose. Matilda nodded and took off the lid, grimacing at the foul-smelling, slimy, disgusting substance inside. Rose turned to Albus. "How are you doing, Al?" Rose took the Flobberworm mucus from Matilda and shook it into her cauldron thrice.

Albus, who had been staring at Matilda, shook his head ferociously. "Sorry, what was that?"

"I said—" Rose began cutting up little black beans that had a habit of leaping off of the table. "—how are you doing?"

"Oh." Albus ducked his head and became extremely interested at the bean he was crushing with the side of his blade. "I'm fine, thank you," he mumbled.

"Uh, you're meant to cut the bean," Rose pointed out.

"Well, the point of cutting the bean—" He squeezed the brown juice into the cauldron, turning the potion lilac. "—is to release juice, yes? So the more juice, the better, right?"

Matilda looked seriously impressed. Well, she was sort of biased, seeing as she had had a crush on Albus since first year.

"I suppose so," said Rose. "But isn't it sort of risky?"

"The potion seems to have gone the correct colour, so I'd say that my theory was correct." Albus motioned to his potion, now deepening in purple as he stirred it clockwise ten times.

"You're meant to stir it anti-clockwise, Al," Rose sighed.

Albus' attention snapped back from Matilda and settled to his Potions book. "Really? Oops. Looks like it worked, though, didn't it?"

"I know I'm gorgeous, but if you could stop staring at me, Albus," giggled Matilda, twirling a curl of black hair around her finger. Her brown eyes, perfectly shaped and positioned on her chocolate-coloured skin, twinkled at him.

Albus blushed. "I wasn't looking at you – I was reading the poster behind you."

Rose rolled her eyes and added a bezoar to her potion, scowling when it didn't turn precisely the correct shade of blue. Professor Creevey was pacing the classroom, peering into people's cauldrons.

"Matilda Thomas, what on earth is that?" the professor demanded.

Matilda, who was wrestling with a spongy green blob that apparently was her potion, cried, "I don't know!"

Professor Creevey waved his wand and the green blob slithered back into the cauldron. "I suggest adding a spine of lionfish; that should settle it down."

Matilda rummaged through her bag of ingredients, took out a sharp, stripy, needle-like thing and dropped it into her cauldron. The green blob dissolved into liquid.

"Now, start from step four and you should be okay," said Professor Creevey.

"Thank… you… sir…" Matilda gasped.

But the professor had moved on. He muttered his approval at Rose's potion, but cried out in joy at Albus'.

"Flawless! Exactly the correct hue, with the perfect texture and thickness. Emits the subtle but calming fragrance. You have certainly possessed the talents of your father." Professor Creevey beamed at Albus, whose face had gone bright red and was facing Matilda.

"It's really good," Matilda blurted out, her cheeks darkening even more, which was hardly possible due to the colour of her skin. Albus' mouth twitched at the corners into a smile, but he was frozen by the attention, so he awkwardly began arranging his beans into size order.

"I hope you take what you have learnt in this lesson and apply it to theory. That's right, we shall be discussing the properties of the Antidote of Common Poisons tomorrow, so bring your quills – as if you wouldn't. Class dismissed!" said Professor Creevey, and there was the clatter of students collecting their things.

"Rose, Chaulton wants to see me, so I'll meet you in the Great Hall at lunch, okay?" Matilda said.

Rose nodded. Chaulton was her boyfriend. "I'll hang out with Albus."

"Be careful of his fangirls," Matilda warned her with a false grin.

"As always." Rose shoved her ingredient box into her bag, swung it over her shoulder and left the classroom with Albus.

They walked around the grounds in silence, just comforted by each other's presence. The trees and bushes rustled around them, dry and crisp, announcing the early arrival of Autumn. Not even the chattering of the fangirls behind them could bother Rose – they were just the wind, only the wind…

"I'm still angry at you, you know," Rose whispered.

"Not for long, Rosie-poo," teased Albus, doing a little twirl in the early Autumn breeze.

"Albus, I think he was going to ask me out to Hogsmeade."

"That's what I saw in the crystal ball, Rose. You can't date him. He'll be the end of you," Albus predicted in an ominous voice.

"You would know all about that, wouldn't you, Al? You haven't even had a girlfriend. And no—" Albus had tried to cut in, but Rose held out her hand, palm forward, to stop him. "—that girl at the playground five years ago doesn't count."

"There are loads of girls that would kill to get with me now," said Albus, an arrogant smirk plastered on his face. Just like the Malfoys had a smirk, the Potters had a smirk. That was the Potter smirk.

"Then why don't you just… get a girlfriend?" Rose suggested, smiling slightly.

"You make it sound easier than it is, Rosie." Albus tapped out a rhythm on his bag. "And besides, I already have my sights set on someone, anyway."

"Matilda?" Rose chirped in immediately.

Albus' eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"You just told me."

Albus started whacking his head on a stone pillar.

"And also, it was pretty obvious. You've been staring at her for ages," said Rose. She grabbed Albus by his collar and heaved him backwards just as he was going for the fifth head bang. "You should ask her to Hogsmeade."

Albus shook his head frantically, his blush building up until his entire face was a violent scarlet.

Rose giggled. "Would you look at that? Albus is scared of a girl."

"Shut up!" screamed Albus.

Rose dissolved into a pool of laughter, and soon tempted Albus into it. It was a nice laugh, one that pricked tears in Rose's eyes and caused her to clutch her stomach.

"Hey, Rose!" a voice from behind shouted.

"Whaa—!" Rose quickly spun on the balls of her feet, her heart racing. "Tilly! You're early." Rose leaned forward, her hands on her lower thighs, and breathed deeply to calm her frantic pulse.

Matilda scowled. "I broke up with Chaulton, the git. All he wanted me for was to get laid. I mean, I understand he is a fifth year and has… _urges_—" Matilda shuddered. "—but he has to understand that I am almost fourteen, and therefore not ready for that sort of relationship! How old does he think I _am_, anyway? So I dumped his ass."

Pulling up to stand upright, Rose smiled and said, "Good for you, Tilly. There are plenty more fish in the sea. I still don't understand why you dated that idiot. A fifth year! Do you _want_ a bad reputation?"

"I know," moaned Matilda. "I regret it. And it's not like I don't already have a reputation." She pulled a hairbrush from her bag and attacked her already-silky hair. She abruptly flinched, her eyes set on the muscular, Quidditch-toned chest of Albus, who was already a few inches taller than her and just starting his growth spurts.

"Oh, Albus, you're still here," giggled Matilda, calming down with her hair brushing.

Albus grimaced. "Yeah, sorry, I'll just be… going." He turned around and walked away.

"Huh?" Matilda turned to Rose, concerned. "What did I do?"

"He just has a crush on you, Tilly," said Rose.

"You're kidding!"

Rose shook her head, a slow smile starting to tease the corners of her mouth.

"Wow. Uh, what do I do? It's not like I haven't had boyfriends before – everyone knows that – but this is different! I actually _like_ him!" Matilda started panicking, flapping her arms about.

"Matilda, chill, chill… Just hint to him that you like him, okay? Take it slow—"

"To hell with that!" Matilda raced forward. "Albus, _Albus_!"

Albus turned around. "Yeah?"

"I was… er…" Matilda's nerve snapped in two, and her knees started trembling. "You did a really good job, er… in Potions."

Albus smiled sweetly. "Thanks!"

Matilda started blushing, but her skin was so dark already that only Rose and Albus could tell, Rose being Matilda's best friend and Albus being so acute to people's emotions Rose wondered whether he was a Legilimens. Matilda blinked a couple of times, before escaping, rushing to the refuge of Rose's company.

"Wait! Matilda!"

"Let's go, Rose," Matilda mumbled. She grabbed Rose by the wrist and started hauling her away. "We have Transfiguration next. _Without _the Gryffindors."

"Uh, okay," said Rose, obliging despite the fact that she knew that Transfiguration was fifteen minutes away. She was going to fix this. Suddenly she had a plan, the perfect plan.

She knew what to do.

* * *

**I so wanted to finish that scene off – I already had all the dialogue planned – but I can't just… just rush into… OH, ALBUS, GIVE ME A HUG! -crushes Albus- I love you.**

**Albus: Get off of me!**

**Shush, shush. There, there. It'll all work out in the end.**

**Matilda: YOU RUINED MY MOMENT, MASTER.**

**I didn't mean to! The keyboard, you have no idea the power it possesses. Albus, what would you have done, what would you have done?**

**Albus: I would have asked her out! I would have asked her out rather than let her be sad!**

**D: There's always chapter ten, slaves. **

**Matilda: Ugh -_- Reviews are the perfect potion and the amazing name, Chaulton.**

**Thank you all! Mwah!**

**PIMP.**


	10. Crucio

**I do not own Harry Potter. If I did, I would be at Hogwarts being the Queen of Everything, not here writing to you all. J.K. Rowling owns Harry Potter, and sadly, as I put before, I do not. Enjoy the tenth chapter!**

* * *

A month and a half passed in a blur of droning voices, painfully satisfactory potions that were nothing compared to the perfection Albus brewed, sideward glances at Scorpius – always keeping distance, tension between Albus and Matilda, who were trying and failing to act like nothing was going on, and Ciara forcing herself onto Albus in her irritatingly possessive manner, much to Matilda's dislike. In fact, Ciara tagged along with the trio as they walked the grounds, the late Saturday sun smiling down on their faces.

Matilda had chosen the spot on the edge, furthest away from Ciara. Her smiles were forced and her teeth always gritted, and Rose, standing next to her, could hear her teeth grinding together when Ciara stopped blabbing on about Merlin knows what. Albus was next to Rose, their fingers always linked, unless Ciara had one of her hyperactive bursts and launched herself at Albus. Ciara, as previously mentioned, was on the end, her hands roaming over Albus, completely oblivious to the glares from Rose and Matilda, as well as the bewildered looks from Albus.

"Oh, it's so romantic, isn't it?" sighed Ciara, gazing wistfully at the golden leaves glowing in the sunlight and settling on the grass, sparkling with dew. "An evening walk in the sun. This is the perfect moment." She looked at Albus expectantly.

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You were supposed to kiss me, right then," hissed Ciara, scowling. "Oh well." She shrugged. "If you want a job done, you have to do it yourself." She swung her arms around Albus' neck and would've kissed him, if not for Matilda springing into action like a demented wildcat.

"You're mental!" screamed Matilda, shoving Ciara away.

"Just because you want him too."

"That has nothing to do with it. We're just friends! I'm not going to let your filthy lips taint him!" shrieked Matilda, her voice lifting into its crescendo.

"You're never just friends with any boy! You've been out with almost the entire male population of this year already and about half of the fourth year as well! Not to mention Dunecrus Ammant, now a _fifth_ year!"

"I was _eleven_!" shouted Matilda, her dark skin colouring even deeper.

Rose stepped forward, blocking Matilda and Ciara from savaging each other. "Guys, can you just calm down please…?"

"It wouldn't be wise to stand between them right now, Rosie," whispered Albus, dragging Rose back.

"Dating at eleven? That tells us a lot about you! You should hear what they say about you, Matilda!" screamed Ciara. She laughed – the fake, glassy, silvery sound dissolved in the tense air.

Matilda's arms flailed as she hollered, "You can talk! You chatted up Alex Longbottom and the same day he turned you down, his owl died! How could you _do_ that? At least I can _get _a man!" Matilda reached for her wand, but Rose slapped her hand as it approached her back pocket, thwarting her.

"You _slut_! You only want what you can't have! You have your eyes on the sexiest boy in school, bar Leon Binning, because _Agrippa_, he… that isn't the point! Albus deserves better! Albus deserves me!" Ciara began frantically combing her fingers through her silky, straight, light hair. Fake crocodile tears pricked the corners of her eyes and she glanced at Albus for support.

"Oh, no. You can't call my friend a slut in front of me. Who the hell do you think you are?" said Albus, blatantly supressing his rage.

"Al, please," whispered Ciara, her glossy bottom lip trembling.

Albus grunted in dismissal and carried on walking, Rose rushing to his side. Ciara hesitated for a few seconds before running away in tears, and Matilda took a few deep breaths before catching up to her friends. Rose intertwined fingers with the both of them, now in the middle, and frowned at the furrowed brows of her friends.

"At least she's gone," said Rose in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Matilda shrugged. "She wasn't cut out for us."

Albus shook his head with a smile. Rose sighed, swung their linked arms back and forth and carried on down the field, kicking the crisp, frail autumn leaves as she went.

An hour later, they found themselves near the borders of the Forbidden Forest, lying on their backs and staring at the sky. Fluffy clouds edged slowly through the blue, the perfect sort for cloud busting. The dew on the grass soaked into Rose's clothes, but she didn't care. She was with the two people she loved dearest and the sunlight filled her with joy. The air was growing a little cold, and it nipped on her bare arms where her sleeves rode up, but that wasn't bothering her either.

"That one looks like a horse!" said Rose.

"Which one?" asked Matilda.

Rose pointed at a white cloud that looked like a stallion reared up on its hind feet, its long mane blowing in the wind.

"That looks nothing like a horse," Albus disagreed, eyes squinting with concentration as he examined the said cloud, which was not starting to break away.

Rose got up, brushing dirt, blades of grass and crushed leaves from her body. She hadn't even noticed, but the sky had taken a peachy tint. By the time they'd get back to the castle, it'd be nearly curfew. Rose held out her hands and hauled up her best friends, before trekking out through the long grass again. It was like wading through water – the grass was so thick and high that she had to cram herself into the non-existent spaces between the blades. Every so often, she got a little gash like a paper cut on her hands from the edges of the leaves, but she used a quick healing spell from _The Basic Essentials of Duelling _and problem solved.

Her friends silently followed. Only the soft crushing of leaves under their feet could be heard. It was a small bubble of tranquillity so rarely saw, and after the Ciara outburst – she didn't want to think about that – everyone had released their anger.

"Oh, um, sorry," whispered Albus.

Rose turned around. Matilda had tucked her hands into her pockets and a small bashful smile was on her face. Albus twiddled his thumbs, the tips of his ears colouring.

"It's fine. It was a shock, that's all. You can hold my hand if you want," said Matilda quietly.

"No, I'm _fine_, thank you," snapped Albus. Matilda winced at his tone, but Rose knew Albus. He was rude because he was embarrassed.

Rose gave Matilda and Albus an apologetic look. It was odd, being the only one to understand the other. Rose still couldn't believe Albus hadn't caught on yet. He was supposed to be fantastic at identifying emotions, so fantastic it bordered on plain scary. This area of emotion was obviously his Achilles' heel. She dropped back to their level and took their hands again, hoping that she could glue them together. Inside she was willing them to kiss, hug, hold hands, or at least do _something_ to relieve the choking tension between them that had grown so thick it constricted her.

The sun was moving faster than Rose predicted across the sky, so the trio picked up their pace until they were at a dead sprint to the castle. The long grass and jagged leaves whipped them worse than ever but they couldn't risk pausing to heal them because if they did they'd be caught out after dark. After the war and the horrible things that happened to Albus' father, the professors had been taught to be extremely strict with children out after dark. Admittedly, Rose was wary too, especially near the Forbidden Forest. You never know what's lurking out there.

Her thighs burnt, her hands bled, her skin prickled with the fast advancing cold, but still Rose ran, her fingers locked into Albus' and Matilda's, until their feet hit stone and they leapt over the low walls to the square. The fountain sprayed water in their faces as they sat on its edge, clutching their frantic hearts. Their gasps made shapes in the air like phantoms.

"Mister Potter, Miss Thomas, Miss Weasley, what on earth are you doing out after dark?" asked a stern voice from behind them.

Matilda and Rose screamed before falling onto the freezing ground, but Albus turned and faced the owner of the voice and grinned sheepishly.

"I'm sorry, Professor McGonagall. We were out quite far and we didn't notice how late it was getting. We were just heading back to our common rooms. I assure you, professor, it wasn't intentional for us to be out so late," said Albus. "And I swear, Professor," he continued, when Professor McGonagall tried to cut in, "that I dropped my habit of sneaking out of the common room during second year."

Matilda and Rose gaped at how innocent and angelic he sounded. It was really freaky. He didn't sound like the Albus they knew.

Professor McGonagall, the Transfiguration professor and Head of Gryffindor House, was touched – Rose could see in her eyes that her stern resolve had crumbled. "Well, five points from each of you. Hurry back to your common rooms before someone stricter than I catches you, and count yourself lucky I didn't give you all detentions."

Silence reigned over the trio when the professor left.

"Wow, well done, Al!" said Rose, grinning. "That was amazing!"

Albus shrugged with a smirk. "I try."

"How did you do it?" asked Matilda.

"Do what? Worm out of trouble? Because if what I've heard is correct you've done that many a time," replied Albus.

Matilda glared. "No, how did you sound so…"

"So…?"

"So bloody _innocent_!"

"I am innocent," Albus answered simply.

Rose elbowed him in the ribs and said, "No, you are not. Dropped the habit in second year? That is the biggest lie I have ever heard."

Albus shrugged again and shoved his hands into his pockets. "You're common room's in the opposite direction. I'll see you tomorrow." He began to walk away.

"You come ba—" shouted Matilda, until Rose's hand gagged her mouth and muffled her voice.

"Shush! Let's go," Rose whispered, grabbed Matilda by her sleeve. She looked with disgust at the dry blood on the back of her hands, but she could wash that off when she got to the common room.

Rose glanced behind her, but Albus had already vanished into the night. With one last look behind her, Rose and Matilda darted into the shadows. Through them they made their way to the common room. They both sighed a breath of relief simultaneously when they shut the door to the girls' dormitory behind them.

* * *

Albus didn't go back to his common room after that. His head buzzed, and going-ons elsewhere teased the edge of his vision. This happened a lot, when he was either exhausted or exhilarated. He needed to clear his head; he didn't want the nightmares tonight. The voices rang like sharp bells in his ears.

_I thought you were going to let me go._

Merlin, he hated it. He hated seeing the things he did. He hated being so furious at random times. He hated lying. He hated invading his friend's minds. But he couldn't help it. He was different, and since second year Albus had know why.

Albus was a Seer.

Albus slammed his eyes shut and tried to block that male voice out, but as soon as his vision was cut off, the images came. In a surge of vertigo, Albus toppled to one side and collapsed against the wall of the corridor. The world swerved and split around him.

_You think too much of me, Finch-Fletchley. Did you do as I asked?_

Footsteps echoed in the freezing night air. Someone was coming, but Albus didn't know whether this was his vision or reality. Even if it was reality, Albus couldn't move a muscle. His body seized up.

_I want you to let me go._

Albus wanted to tear at his pounding had, but his hands were bound to his sides. A bead of sweat was searing on his cheek.

_I'll let you go when you answer my question. Did you do as I asked?_

Albus suddenly knew that it wasn't the vision that made his body seize up. There was someone else, someone who had hit him with the Body-Bind. The footsteps were getting closer, and Albus could see the shadow of a human figure out of the corner of his eyes, yet he couldn't move his head to see who.

_I did. Take it._

The footsteps stopped, but the pounding in Albus' head did not, unfortunately. Inside he was screaming in the agony that was a headache, the struggle to supress the vision and the power of the Body-Bind.

_This information is valuable to me. You did well. You may leave, and take your family with you._

The figure made a little sound as they evaluated the situation. They sounded female.

_Oh Merlin, oh God, thank you._

The vision ended, and Albus would have cried out with relief as the pain subsided, but his throat locked.

"Hm, now what do we have here?" asked a familiar voice to itself.

Delilah Kyte.

The Body-Bind faded from Albus' head and neck, and he stared at his captor.

"I've been waiting a long time for you, Albus. Just like your father, you have an aptitude for snaking out of sticky situations." Kyte twirled her wand through her fingers, a malicious glint in her eyes.

"What do you want?" rasped Albus, his voice hoarse from silent screaming.

Kyte smiled mockingly. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you."

Albus' entire Inner Eye swelled at that. _Lies, lies, lies._

"I'm here to get revenge, you see. I know she loves you the most," hissed Kyte.

"Who?" asked Albus, fear in his heart.

"Rose Weasley." Kyte spat the name like is was foul-tasting in her _precious, Pure-blood_ mouth.

"Why?" Albus demanded, the fear now blossoming into terror, ripping at his heart. Well, better him than Rose.

Kyte stared at Albus for a second before dissolving into tears of rage. "She _stole_ him! He was _mine_ and she _stole _him! I've come to get him back."

"WHO?" yelled Albus.

"Scorpius," cried Kyte, her body shaking in fury. She looked really dangerous, and Albus had no doubt that she was.

"She isn't dating Scorpius," insisted Albus.

"Oh no, she didn't need to. She batted those _pretty little blue eyes_ Scorpius loves so dearly and he was bewitched. If she's depressed and aggrieved by the insanity of her cousin, the spell will be broken. Will you let me do this to you?"

She was the mental one!

Seeing the horrified look on Albus' face, she continued, "If you don't, I'll do it to Rose, or maybe that little Matilda girl you keep eyeing up. Yeah, Albus, everybody noticed."

Albus gritted his teeth, before nodding. "Okay." He shut his eyes and enjoyed the fact there was only darkness. The frosty air that gnawed on his skin was pleasant now. He'd only just appreciated the pleasures of—

"CRUCIO!"

Pain.

Agony.

Fire.

Hatred.

Memories.

Burning.

Searing.

_Agony._

_Agony._

_Agony._

Nothing else.

* * *

**ALBUS! NO! You have no idea how much it hurt me to write this. I don't even know what to write here, I'm so gutted.**

**There's no Scorpius in this, but expect a big blast next chapter. Something to look forward to while I sob.**

**Reviews are evening walks in the sun, Albus owning Ciara and BLUEBERRY MUFFINS.**

**Look, just review please, okay? :3 It'd make me happy again.**

**Mwah!**

**PIMP.**


	11. Of Romance and Risk

**I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER AS MUCH AS I'D LIKE TO. IT BELONGS TO JOANNE KATHLEEN ROWLING. ALSO KNOWN AS J K ROWLING. THANK YOU FOR READING THIS PATHETIC DISCLAIMER.**

**Sorry it took so long. School-work, writers' block, tiredness, more school-work, evil teachers, _more_ school-work... you get the point. Enjoy chapter 11 ; u ; (or not.)**

* * *

"What do we have first, Rose?"

Rose looked up from the wobbly egg yolk she was prodding with her fork and groaned. "History of Magic."

Matilda made a similar noise and nibbled on a corner of her toast. "At least it's only once a week," she said. "Let's get it over with."

"Always the optimist," replied Rose. She glared at the fried egg for a few more seconds before abandoning it for a cereal bar.

"You're supposed to be the optimistic one." Matilda filled her mouth with the jam-coated toast and leaned left to peer around Rose. "Where's Albus this morning?"

"He often skips breakfast, you know that," Rose answered. In all honesty, she wasn't feeling very hungry that morning. She became a human pretzel to retrieve her leather bag from under the table and swung it over her shoulder. "Are you coming?"

Matilda gave her toast a contemplating look before shrugging and dropping it onto the golden plate. She grabbed her bag, which was apparently from a very popular Muggle brand, and left the Great Hall with Rose. They didn't have a very satisfying breakfast that day, but the ghost that was their History of Magic professor never noticed them sucking a Sugar Quill or chomping on a Chocolate Frog. He didn't even notice when people fell asleep!

Rose and Matilda lingered in front of the History of Magic classroom for a while, perfectly at ease, before people started lining up. However, it wasn't like Albus to skive off, and when he didn't turn up for class Rose and Matilda exchanged a startled look. They took their usual seats at the back, sharing a desk vandalised by scribbled in Irreversible Ink, and sucked on their Sugar Quills in silence.

Albus didn't turn up.

It'd been half an hour of Professor Binns' rambling voice before any news of him arrived. Opalia Longbottom, first year, Ravenclaw, sister of Rose's classmate – Alex Longbottom – and daughter of Professor Longbottom, quietly opened the door and darted to the professor, her tall, slim, dainty body weaving in and out of the desks like a white flower in the wind.

"Um, sir?" she said quietly, her sing-song voice like a chime of bells.

Professor Binns carried on teaching, oblivious to the pale girl at his side.

"Professor Binns?" Opalia called out. Her shrill voice was a little higher this time.

"Yes, dear?"

"I was asked to give you this message about Albus. He won't be attending lessons for the rest of this week. He's in the hospital wing."

Rose and Matilda gasped, hands cupped around their mouths. They'd go straight to him after class. Rose wondered what on earth had happened. This only backed up her fear of venturing out into the darkness alone.

"May I ask why?" said Professor Binns.

Opalia's face scrunched in up in concentration. "They said he was… victim to an extended dose of the… Cruciotis Curse…? Is that right?"

Rose was obviously the only person in the room who knew what she meant and/or what the Cruciatus Curse was. She screamed and stood up in a flash, knocking her chair over backwards in the process. Matilda, although she didn't know what the Cruciatus Curse was, sensed the horror in Rose's voice and rose from her seat as well. The urgent, desperate look in Rose's eyes told her everything she needed to know. Without even getting their stuff, they hurried out of the classroom, stumbling over bags and books as they went, and bolted down the corridor, ignoring the yells behind them.

The stitch in Rose's side was burning into her, but like last night, she couldn't afford to let pain stop her. What had happened to Albus? Who had done this to him? How could she let something like this happen? Was it her fault?

She almost stopped at this thought, it was so painful. Tears welled up in her eyes and overflowed.

Was it her fault?

Well, was it?

She was going to find out.

Their footsteps banged to the rhythm of Rose's heartbeat. Rose's fists clenched with the effort to run against the agony of the stitch in her side. Imagine how Albus felt, she thought. Her feet slipped on the smooth floor of the corridor, but she grabbed onto Matilda and was hauled for a while until she could regain her balance. They leapt onto the moving staircase, which had just began to switch places, and took two steps at a time, always ascending, until they reached an oil painting. Gasping, Rose gave it the password, and they scrambled through a hole in the wall. This hole revealed a hallway, and a little way down it were the double doors to the Hospital Wing.

They stood and watched for a while, choking as they dragged air into their lungs, before surging forward with unity and shoving the dense door open together.

Inside, on a painfully white bed, was a boy curled on his side, his muscular back bare and covered with gashes. His jet black hair, always wild like his father's, was the tell-tale feature.

"Albus!" howled Rose and Matilda concurrently, gripping the grey metal bar of the bedframe.

The Quidditch-toned boy stirred with a groan and rolled over to look at his visitors. He winced as throbbing stung afresh on his wounds and it was obvious he would prefer to roll over and nod off again, but he peeled his heavy lids open to reveal weary green eyes. His chapped lips twitched a little at the edges.

"Hi guys," he whispered hoarsely. His shattered eyes twinkled. Rose gulped, shaking with her self-restraint, before throwing herself over the bed at Albus, sobbing whilst she did so.

"Ouch, Rosie. Sore," Albus chuckled, though his eyes glazed over with the pain.

"I'm sorry," Rose wept, "but I was so w-w-worried. Why… who d-did this? Wh-wh-why would s-s-s-someone do this t-to you?" She clung onto Albus like a limpet and buried her face into the hollow near his shoulder. "When we h-heard that you were in the h-h-h-hospital w-w-wing, we were s-s-so worried-d-d. You're so _b-b-brave_!"

Albus grinned before peeling Rose off of him. "Rose. I need to tell you something."

Rose perched on the edge of the bed, obviously captivated.

"Delilah Kyte did this to me… because of you."

"Because of me?" Rose was choking.

It's my fault, she thought.

It's my fault.

It's my fault.

It's my—

"Because Scorpius is in love with you." Albus snarled.

"What?" screamed Rose, tumbling face first off of the bed. Her nose squished against the floor, but she managed to wiggle upright again. "No, that's not true. It isn't possible."

Matilda hadn't said anything yet, but she nodded and wiped a tear from her cheek. "I think he's right, Rose."

Albus snorted. "Of course I'm right! I'm the Golden Boy's son, for Merlin's sake!"

Matilda gawped at Albus for a second before doing a Rose and launching herself at him. Only instead of a hug, she planted a kiss right on his mouth. For a few moments, Albus was frozen with shock, but after that he responded with such enthusiasm that Matilda moaned. Her arms wrapped around his neck and his around her waist. When he let out a growl, Rose cleared her throat in discomfort.

They drew back an inch, breathing heavily, and looked at Rose. Albus' body was flush against Matilda's, and knowing that Rose could see this heated his cheeks. Matilda obviously thought the same, as the tips of her ears darkened.

"I'll just be going, guys. Don't worry. I won't disturb your tongue battle," giggled Rose.

Albus and Matilda rolled their eyes, but Rose knew they were thankful. With a smirk, Rose grabbed her bag – which she had dropped during her flight onto Albus – and headed toward the doors. When she glanced back at her two best friends, they were already absorbed in exploring each other's mouths.

Although Rose was so relieved Albus was alright, inside she felt jealous. She flopped against the wall outside of the hospital wing.

_Phase one of the plan is complete_, she thought sadly, _but now he's got his love… where's mine?_

"Rose, are you okay?"

Rose lifted her head from where it had lolled.

"Score!" she exclaimed.

"You looked really upset. Is there anything I can do?" asked Scorpius, walking up to Rose and smiling down at her.

Rose was about to shake her head, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She couldn't _lie_. She was a bad liar anyway, but this time she just couldn't make her voice into words.

"Scorpius… would it make you a bad friend if you were jealous?" she whispered.

Scorpius looked confused for a second, but then straightened up, moved to the door of the hospital wing and peered round. After a few seconds of staring gormlessly in, mouth agape, he made a disgusted sound and turned away. "You're jealous of _that_?"

Rose shook her head, her red hair whipping her face. "No, no! Just the way they are."

Scorpius cocked an eyebrow.

"I should've known you wouldn't understand. I don't even know you that well; we're not even friends. I shouldn't be talking to you about this." Rose sniffed and squared her shoulders. "Go, I'm okay."

"Rose…" Scorpius took a deep breath before gushing out so quickly it was almost incoherent, "Will you go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?"

"_WHAT?_" screamed a couple of voices together, and when turned to the sound she saw Albus and Matilda standing in the doorway of the Hospital Wing, feet right on the threshold.

Matilda was smirking, but Albus looked gobsmacked. Ignoring their presence, Rose said in a pompous voice, "I'd be delighted." Then she looked over at her friends.

Matilda was now looking as though Christmas had come a few months early, but Albus was still gobsmacked. With a grinding sound, he shut his gaping jaw and moaned.

"I have to get to know his first," he said.

Rose and Scorpius snorted.

"Get to know you?" mocked Scorpius. "I'd rather—"

Albus shot him the death glare and sensing defeat he shut up.

"They gave him some potions and they're going to let him try sleeping in the dorms tonight, just to see how he gets on. He'll still be excused from classes and everything but they want to see if he needs longer," Matilda explained, trying to hide her smile.

"Great," said Rose half-heartedly. She stormed away, mumbling as she went: "He sounds like my dad… Who does he think he is…? Stupid Albus… _Avada Kedavra_ my life…"

Her best friends and her maybe-kinda-sorta-boyfriend laughed behind her, and even through her angry façade, she was grinning.

The plan had worked.

* * *

**YES ASDFGHJKL.**

**I wanted them to kiss tho. Gutted. But I can't move the story too fast or it'd be boring.**

**I regret Matilda dumping Chaulton.**

**And where do Hugo, Lily and James come into this story?**

**Favourite, Story-Alert and Review to find out more.**

**Sincerely,**

**PIMP.**


	12. Professor Bolden's Theory

**This took too long again. I've been putting it off for ages, but as soon as I start writing it's so much fun and I can't stop. Everything starts to come together… muahahaha. I am so evil.**

**Disclaimer: No, I do not own Harry Potter. Harry Potter © Joanne Rowling. As much as you'd like to, don't sue me. Only Matilda belongs to me, but her father, Dean Thomas, doesn't. Okay?**

**Right. Chapter 12. Here we go.**

* * *

She couldn't stop thinking about it. She kept thinking about kissing him, holding him...

Of course, the Professors soon rounded up Rose, Matilda and Scorpius and they were shipped back to their classes with a detention and a scolding, but it wasn't so bad. Albus was fine, Rose was dating the boy of her dreams (although they weren't officially dating – surely Hogsmeade and a kiss counts as something though, even if the kiss was imaginary) and Matilda was goofily happy. Rose wasn't sure if even Professor Binns' monotonous voice droning on and on again about Oswald the Ordinary and Evrendal the Evil could put a stop to her ecstatic mood. Nibbling on her Sugar Quill, Rose's eyes scanned the pages of the paving slab that was her History of Magic book, not taking anything in. Not that she exactly needed to – she'd finished it ages ago. Thank goodness the Ravenclaws and Slytherins didn't share too many classes. Rose was already blushing like crazy, replaying with Scorpius over and over in her head, and she couldn't even begin to fathom how difficult it would be to be in the same class as him. Her face was heating up, her skin flushing the same red as her hair, and Rose ducked her head even further down into the book. She couldn't see Matilda except out of the very corner of her eye, but she could imagine the amused look on her face and knew it was there.

She didn't even lift her head when someone entered the room. She assumed it was Opalia by the little streak of white that rushed by – her hair, Rose imagined.

"Rose Weasley? Professor Bolden wants to see you in his office," said Opalia's dreamy voice.

"Why does she get a free pass out of this hellhole and not us?" Alex Longbottom complained.

Rose glanced at the clock in the classroom. She had twenty minutes of class left, and here was a sudden opening to miss it without detention. Professor Binns' was talking as if there was no interruption, so Rose packed up her books and followed Opalia out of the classroom. Then, after nodding politely at Opalia, who was gazing intently at Rose, she walked quickly through the corridors to a giant statue.

"Chinese Fireball," said Rose, and with a groan, the statue turned to reveal a spiralling staircase, rising up into the air. Rose hopped onto the closest step and allowed herself to be carried ever upwards to the Headmaster's office like she was on a Muggle escalator.

Once the staircase had stopped ascending, she stepped off of it and approached the thick wooden door that lead to Professor Bolden's office. Her hand hesitated on the dark wood, poised to knock, when the steady voice of the Headmaster rang through:

"Come in, Rose."

Rose slowly released the latch on the door and shoved it open.

All around her, the room seemed to emit a calming glow. Every cupboard door, holding inside Merlin knows what, was decorated with little mirrors, most of them shaped like wonky diamonds, so that when she walked past, she saw millions of miniature copies of herself mimicking her every action. Above her head was a chandelier, which was small but bright, composed of red glass, green glass, blue glass, yellow glass and, in the centre – its crowning jewel – diamonds that reflected the colours of the rainbow onto everything they could reach hung down, cut like raindrops. The colour bounced off of the glass and rained down onto everyone in the room.

On the walls were portraits of old Headmasters. A dark-haired elder and a ginger-haired woman smiled with curiosity in their eyes as Rose slowly picked her way through the silver objects scattered across the floor. Further along the line of portraits there were two next to each other; an old man with an extremely long silvery beard, a kind yet wrinkled face and soft blue eyes, and next to it a skinny man with a long hooked nose, a thin, sallow face and a frowning mouth. His dark eyes glowered down at Rose. Underneath these portraits were names. Under the first was Albus Dumbledore, and under the second was Severus Snape. Albus Severus. So these were Al's namesakes.

Rose stared at the front of the office and saw the Headmaster, Professor Bolden, who had replaced Professor McGonagall early on. She'd much preferred teaching Transfiguration and being the Gryffindor Head of House than being the Headmistress, so she was replaced. Beside Professor Bolden, to Rose's astonishment, were Harry Potter and Albus Potter.

"Uncle Harry!" Rose called out in surprise. "How did you get here?"

Harry smiled at Rose. "I Apparated."

Rose frowned, bemused. "But Uncle Harry, you can't Apparate in the grounds of Hogwarts – it say so in –"

"_Hogwarts: A History_, yes. And yes, that is correct. Unless you have this." Harry reached underneath the collar of his shirt and pulled on something. Around his neck, now clearly visible, was a gold chain, with a gleaming charm hanging from it in the shape of the Deathly Hallows sign, glittering faintly in the multi-coloured light of the Headmaster's office. Rose's parents had taught her all about that. "It's got very powerful magic on it. When wearing it, I can Apparate anywhere. It also works with Side-Along Apparation."

"Uncle Harry, this is extraordinary magic. How did you make it?"

Albus tore his gaze from the necklace and nodded, frowning slightly in a way that told Rose that he had never heard of the said necklace before. Rose knew that Albus hated when his father kept secrets from him. Albus and Harry were very close, after all.

"I didn't make it. The great Albus Dumbledore – your namesake, Al—" Harry grinned down at his son, who was about four or five inches shorter still. "—made this. He was still wearing it when he… passed away. They found the necklace and put it into storage, but then they found a note that he'd pinned to his Will that had fallen off. He gave this necklace to me. So it's mine." Harry twirled the charm between his fingers. "Don't be angry that I didn't tell you, Al. I only found out a couple of weeks ago."

Albus grunted and scowled at the mirror-encrusted cupboard doors.

Rose looked at Albus for a moment, before turning to raise an eyebrow at Harry. "But why are we here?"

Professor Bolden, who had been silently watching and listening to the exchange, cleared his throat and spoke for the first time: "We're here to decipher Albus's vision."

Rose snorted. "Vision? Please."

Harry bent down until he was eye-to-eye with Rose. "You're so much like your mother. She didn't believe in the Inner Eye, or Seeing, or anything of the sort. But Rosie, you need to understand that they do exist. Albus is a Seer, there's no doubt about it. It's the sort of thing that needs to be controlled and benefited from instead of ignored and feared.

"Albus has seen something that the Headmaster and I think is of great importance. It might be the very reason Delilah Kyte cast the Cruciatus Curse on Albus."

Rose jerked back. "It was Kyte? She tortured Al?" she yelled.

"There's nothing to worry about, Miss Weasley. I've suspended Miss Kyte indefinitely, as to prevent her being of more harm to my students," Professor Bolden explained. "She's going to be in Azkaban for a week, and her suspension will be for a two week period, minimum."

"But I never thought… She's a horrible, cruel person, I know, and she threatened us a lot, but I never thought she'd actually…" Rose trailed off with a shudder.

"I thought she was bluffing too, but look where that got me," Albus chuckled sadly. Rose didn't laugh, because she wasn't meant to.

"So what did you see, Al?" Harry asked.

Albus's face scrunched up in concentration, before he told them all about his vision.

Harry gasped. "You said Finch-Fletchley?"

Albus nodded.

"I know him. Justin Finch-Fletchley. His son is a second year, Adam Finch-Fletchley. I'll have a chat with him."

"Wait," Al said. He turned to Rose. "Kyte told me that she was torturing me to get revenge on you. She said that you stole Malfoy."

"That's bullocks. She never had him," Rose objected.

Harry's eyebrows were travelling further and further up his forehead. "I'm going to overlook that, Rose Weasley. Especially the fact you're dating your parents' and my nemesis's son." Harry smirked. "That'll make Ron's day."

"Oh, Uncle Harry, please don't tell them yet. Scorpius and I have been dating for all of twenty minutes and there's already a complication."

"Oh, a whole new world of blackmail is opening up," said Albus wickedly.

"Albus!" Rose cried. "You wouldn't want me to tell your father that you were snogging Matilda in the Hospital Wing."

"Rose!"

"Albus Severus," Harry muttered, his smirk even wider.

Professor Bolden cleared his throat and they all shut up, looking guilty.

"I don't think jealousy was all that caused Delilah Kyte to cast the Cruciatus Curse on Albus." Professor Bolden looked away and started pacing slowly around the room. "Seeing things in your visions that have already occurred is rare, but possible."

"So you think what I saw already happened quite a while before I actually saw it?" Albus asked.

"That is my theory. It would put a whole new light on the reasons Delilah Kyte cast that Unforgivable Curse. Miss Kyte is a very dramatic, and, dare I say so about my own student, quite nasty girl, but despite that, I don't think revenge could have caused her to cast that curse. I am almost certain there was something else there. Something she was hiding."

There was silence for a few moments, and each of them felt like hours. Harry was the first to speak.

"I'll go and speak to Justin," Harry mumbled.

Professor Bolden nodded.

"Wait, Dad. Justin's not a bad guy. He just wanted his family back safely."

Harry smiled and Disapparated.

Albus stared at Rose. "Rosie, be careful. I won't always be there to take the bullet for you."

"I don't want you to," replied Rose, comprehending the situation. Albus got tortured for her. He took it for her. To protect her. He risked, even sacrificed his sanity for her. If all had gone to Kyte's plan, Albus would be in the Long-Term Spell Damage Ward at St. Mungo's, totally insane. Tears filled Rose's eyes.

"I don't think it's worth going back to class, children," said Professor Bolden, handing them each a little pink card. "I recommend heading to your next class. If any professors give you trouble, show them the card."

Albus and Rose nodded, said, "Thank you, Professor," and headed back to the door.

"Oh, and children?" Professor Bolden called out. Rose and Albus turned around. "Don't tell anyone," he said, with a stern warning hidden between the lines of his words

"May I tell my closest friend, Matilda? She's Albus's girlfriend as well," Rose said.

The Headmaster flicked his hand as if to say, "If you must."

* * *

_.-*'*-._.-*'*-._

* * *

"So who do you think is behind all of this?" Matilda asked as she left the Charms classroom with Rose and Albus, her eyes wide after Rose's alarming explanation.

Rose shrugged, readjusting her bag strap to stop it digging into her shoulder. "I don't know, but trust me, we're going to find out."

"We?" Matilda echoed, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, I'm flattered that you're just going to let your boyfriend die. That's a great start to the relationship," Albus said sarcastically, rolling his eyes but trying to stop the corners of his mouth twitching into a smile.

Matilda blushed. "Of course not. I just… My dad doesn't want me to get into too much trouble this year."

"Trouble? I _never_ get into trouble. I'm a right teachers' pet, aren't I, Rose?"

Rose jabbed him sharply in the ribs with her elbow as she giggled.

"Fine." Matilda smiled. "But after Hogsmeade."

"Yeah, of course. I wouldn't want to be drooling over sweets – hey, Hugo – in Honeydukes Sweet Shop in a wheelchair." Albus grinned, and Matilda gradually walked closer to him so he could wrap his arm around her shoulders. "And I wouldn't be able to do this."

Rose twirled around as she walked, almost bumping into pillars as she did so. "Oh, I can't wait! A double date in the Three Broomsticks, drinking Butterbeer. Imagine it! It's going to be perfect."

"It would be, if a certain Malfoy wasn't there," Albus grumbled.

Rose wasn't listening. "Saturday can't come soon enough!"

They ducked under an archway to walk around outside. The weather was still mild – Rose was worried it might be some of the last good weather they would get before winter. She beamed up at the sky. Everything was going to be perfect.

_Perfect_.

* * *

**Hugo, why aren't you in the story yet?**

**Hugo: I don't like attention!**

**James, why aren't you in the story yet?**

**James: I'm snogging my girlfriend, so shove off.**

**Lily, why aren't you in the story yet?**

**Lily: Don't worry, I will be. *smirks evilly***

**Anyway, thanks for reading. Reviews would be the best thing ever. And if you review then I'll give Hugo and Lily some more 'action', and put in some more Roarpius (which is my name for Rose x Scorpius in case you didn't know.)**

**Thank you!**

**Mwah!**

**PotterIsMyPatronus**


	13. Of Daffodils and Dating

**Chapter 13, which I managed to get out rather quickly if I do say so myself. Thank you to Cheeky Slytherin Lass for her dialogue prompts, which really helped me.**

**Ugh. Describing outfits. Me no lieky. It was boring and I didn't do it very well, so warning. Hopefully you will agree that there are some more Rose/Scorpius moments in this chapter.**

**Okay, honesty hour time: at the beginning of this fic, I didn't plan it at all. *walk of shame* But I did some planning and I know exactly where this is going now. So no harm done. And, no, James and Lily and Hugo STILL don't have a part, and Albus is sounding more and more like a Marty-Stu with ever sentence, but SHAME I'M _NOT_ CHANGING IT.**

**Okay, sorry. Just read the story, okay. *sadface***

**Harry Potter © Jo Rowling, not me.**

**Let's go~**

* * *

Rose woke up drowsily on Saturday morning and rubbed her heavy eyes. For a few lethargic moments she didn't know what was going on, but suddenly it all flooded into her mind at once:

Scorpius. At Hogsmeade. In two hours. _On_ _a_ _date_.

Rose scrambled out of bed and rushed over to the other side of the Ravenclaw Third Year Girls' Dormitory. She pulled back the blue curtains hung around the four-poster bed and stared at the dark-skinned girl inside, who was still fast asleep despite it being eight.

Rose shook her urgently. "Tilly, wake up! Hogsmeade!"

Matilda's eyes shot open and she jerked forward into a sitting position, almost sending Rose flying. Rose managed to regain her balance a few seconds later, though.

"I see you're awake, then," she said breathlessly, clutching the bedpost to gain stability.

Matilda batted her bedcovers away and got out of bed. "We don't have time to talk! We have two hours to get ready! _Two_ _stinking_ _hours_!"

Rose doubted her makeup routine would take two hours, but she was determined to look her best for Scorpius. This was their first date together—and her first date altogether—so she wanted to make it special and make him think she was beautiful.

"Dibs on first in the bathroom. You take _ages_ just _washing_ your face," Rose complained.

"Well, at least I don't have disgusting little blocked pores like you!" Matilda said, attacking her hair with her hairbrush.

"I will hex you into oblivion," Rose hissed before slamming the door to the bathroom. Then, she winced, hoping she didn't wake the other girls. Oh well.

She turned to the mirror, took her familiar yet rarely used pink bottle off of the sink and tipped the lotion inside into her hand. Her mother had recommended it for calming down her bushy red hair, so she combed it into it with her fingers and rejoiced when the locks began to settle into soft ringlets instead of wild curls. Then she moved onto makeup—she didn't like wearing too much because she didn't want people to think badly of her, so she put on a little mascara, some sparkly, pale green eye shadow that matched her chosen outfit for the day and some clear lip-gloss, in case Scorpius wanted to give her her very first kiss. In that case, she'd better take some mints.

When she finally came out of the bathroom thirty minutes later, Matilda was pacing like the crazy person she truly was, but took painstaking measures to hide.

"Finally!" Matilda rushed into the bathroom and slammed it fiercely behind her. Apparently, she cared as little about their roommates' sleeping patterns as Rose did. It didn't matter anyway—nobody that wasn't already awake woke up.

Rose, pleased with the privacy, tugged off her nightdress and whipped on a white vest under a green jumper. Yes, just to be cute, it had a rose on the front. Combined with some jeans, she felt pretty. She doubted she could ever measure up to Matilda's radiance, but she felt… nice.

Of course, she was put to shame by Matilda, who had dressed in the bathroom. When she came out, after an _hour_, she wore a clingy black mini-dress that reached her mid-thigh, her hair was pinned up with a butterfly pin and her already-long eyelashes were emphasised. She looked like a bloody _supermodel_ and it was a little aggravating for Rose. Matilda didn't even have to try.

Rose raised an eyebrow. "A mini-dress? In winter?"

"Not winter yet, babe," Matilda said as she winked, swaying her hips ridiculously as she sashayed over to her bed.

"It's cold, though!"

Matilda flicked her hair, batted her ludicrously long, jet black, mascara-coated eyelashes and said, "Anything for beauty."

Rose rolled her eyes. "We'd better get going. Albus is probably already waiting for you, knowing him." She picked up her bag, put a packet of mints and her makeup bag inside, and left with Matilda.

Of course, as they walked down the corridors, people wolf-whistled at both Matilda and even Rose; this was a little surprising at first. They both sighed at the idiocy of the opposite gender and continued without batting an eyelash their way.

Albus and Scorpius were already by the House hourglasses when they arrived, and they appeared to be having a casual conversation, weirdly. They both stopped when the girls neared them and turned to face them, revealing their full outfits. Scorpius's leather jacket in combination with his loose jeans and shiny hair made him look more stunning than usual. Rose stopped and did a double-take of him. He was just… something else. When she finally met his piercing eyes, she realised he was gazing at her with an expression that mirrored the expression on her own face.

"Typical, Weasley. A rose," he sniggered, smirking.

Rose smirked too, and took his arm. "Let's go then, Score, Tilly, Al?"

"Uh, yeah," Albus replied absentmindedly, his eyes roaming over Matilda. She was grinning like an idiot, and it was actually pretty adorable.

Rose and Scorpius rolled their eyes together before setting off.

_.-*'*-._.-*'*-._

Rose took a sip of her Butterbeer from the table where she sat with her friends in the Three Broomsticks, and watched helplessly as Matilda and Albus awkwardly started a conversation. Rose was thrilled that Albus and Scorpius seemed to be getting along for once, and not shooting each other venomous death glares, but it was completely and blatantly obvious that Matilda and Albus wanted to be alone so that they could tongue-wrestle or something, and Rose wasn't particularly comfortable with her over-protective cousin watching over her every move, but she didn't say anything and tried to participate in the conversation. Said conversation was extremely pointless and only lasted for about a minute before Scorpius cut in.

"Hey, guys, do you mind if Rose and I go out on our own for a while?"

"Oh thank God, you're leaving us alone? I've been trying to subtly pass the message for ages," Matilda confessed.

Rose rolled her eyes. "That's flattering."

Albus smiled apologetically at her.

"No, it's fine. Really. We'll meet you at Zonko's at three, okay?" Rose got up, took Scorpius's hand absentmindedly and left the Three Broomsticks with him.

Scorpius and Rose walked in silence for a while. The streets of Hogsmeade were filled with the thrumming chatter of friends, lovesick couples, locals and laughter. Honeydukes sweets were sucked, nibbled and chewed; Zonko's products were used to cause misery on their unsuspecting acquaintances and just for a well-needed laugh. The Shrieking Shack in the distance was surrounded by shrieking, but it was the students making all of the noise, not the Shack itself. Rose wondered how the Shrieking Shack truly got its name, although she was slightly concerned about what the reason may be. She bet Uncle Harry knew—she'd have to owl him about it.

They kept walking, their hands clasped. Rose could feel Scorpius's pulse against her palm. A faint blush was tinging her face and Rose couldn't help but feel a bit self-conscious about it. The colour of her hair didn't make a blush look as flattering as it did if, say, a tall, leggy blonde blushed. Ugh.

As they kept walking, Rose saw a familiar redhead talking to a familiar boy in the shadow cast by a little empty shop. That was odd. Lily was a First Year, so why would she be talking to Chaulton Brookstanton, who happened to be both a Fourth Year and Matilda's ex-boyfriend? Rose wasn't too fussed, though.

They kept walking, further and further, out of the main clusters of students, until they reached a field. There were no flowers on it, due to it being almost winter and they had long wilted from the cold, but there was grass to sit on, it was empty and it was a nice place to relax. They couldn't cloud-bust because the sky was a complete blanket of dull grey cloud, but they lay on their backs amongst the green blades and looked at each other.

Scorpius stared into her eyes for a minute before gazing up at the sky. "Looks like it might rain soon. That'd be a bummer."

Rose shook her head, not caring that her hair would tangle, and admitted, "I always loved the rain."

"Cool. I'll remember that," Scorpius said. He yanked some grass from its roots and discarded it. "I don't actually know much about you." He pulled up some more grass and let the green blades slide through his fingers. "Like, I already know your favourite flower is a rose, because—"

"Actually, I hate roses. I prefer dandelions. And grass, which you will probably laugh at. Grass that you are so heartlessly murdering." She gave a pointed look at Scorpius's hand, which was now idly clenching and unclenching around the grass.

Scorpius raised his eyebrows but stopped ripping the grass from the ground. "Favourite animal?"

"A sheep."

Scorpius snorted. "A sheep?"

Rose giggled. "Yeah, especially lambs. They're cute."

"Honestly, Weasley, could you be any more of a girl?" Scorpius jested.

"I could be if I tried."

"Please don't." Scorpius chuckled. "Favourite gemstone?"

"Opal."

"Favourite piece of art?"

"Cenotaph to Reynolds's Memory, by John Constable." (**A/N: And that**** happens to by my favourite piece of art.**)

"Favourite colour?"

"Grey!" Rose blurted out, before blushing.

"Grey?" Scorpius scoffed. "Why? It's such a boring colour."

"You know why," Rose whispered, her face turning vivid crimson.

Scorpius smirked, reaching his hands up behind his head and relaxing his legs so that he was in a spread-eagled position. "You look daft like that. I sorta like it."

Rose blushed but started an animated conversation about studying, James Sirius Potter—the Hogwarts prankster, Scorpius's nemesis whom he hated with a burning passion, and, to Scorpius's surprise, Rose's cousin—and Ice Mice. He was astonishingly easy to talk to, had quite an interesting past and although his jokes could be hurtful at times, he was a fairly kind person. Note the fairly. She knew that James, so much like his namesake, was an arrogant toerag, but it wasn't pleasant to hear your date insult him so openly. Luckily, the subject changed soon after his hurtful statement about how idiotic he was. They managed to keep this conversation going for almost two hours, with small gaps of sweet silence in between. Rose didn't think she'd ever managed to keep a conversation going for that long before.

"Did you know that the smell of freshly cut grass is actually the pheromone emitted by plants in distress?" Rose said.

Scorpius smiled. "No, I didn't. How do you know all of these things?"

Rose giggled, shuffled closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder lightly. "This has been nice. You know, hanging out, talking… being friends."

"We're not meant to be friends, did you know?"

Rose leaned away from him and stared into his silvery eyes, hurt.

Scorpius chuckled. "We're meant to be more than friends."

Rose smiled bashfully and looked away, unable to meet his eye after that comment. Bubbles of warmth bloomed inside of her and she felt like curling into a tiny ball and hugging a teddy bear, or Scorpius, or both. However, she did not have any sort of plush toy with her, and she was too scared of rejection to kiss Scorpius, so she simply imagined kissing him. Like she usually did.

Scorpius murmured near her ear after a slight hesitation that was unusual for him, "May I kiss you?"

Rose, because she had been living in a perfect world of rainbows and unicorns and puppies in her imagination, where she and Scorpius loved each other, she didn't know whether he spoke in her mind or in reality. "W-what?"

"If you don't want to, that's fine, but I asked… whether I could kiss you."

"If you like," Rose whispered.

Scorpius looked gobsmacked for a moment, as if not believing that she truly said yes, but he swiftly composed himself and every so cautiously lowered his mouth onto hers.

It was blissful, sweeter than vanilla fudge, spicier than Aunt Ginny's curry but so _Scorpius_ that Rose feared she might spontaneously combust and die. It was everything and nothing. She was ripped apart and crushed back together, into a completely alternate being. The angle was awkward at first, as they were both lying on their side on the grass, but when he scooted closer, cupped her face with his hand and tilted their heads back, it was perfect. Rose wrapped her arms around his neck and his slid under her to wind around her waist.

Heated minutes passed, and their kisses turned drowsy and sweet. Their mouths lazily moulded together for that last second before they parted.

They smiled stupidly at each other for a while until Rose felt something cold and wet on her face. In fact, several cold, wet things were falling on her face.

"It's raining!" Rose exclaimed.

"You're a smart one, aren't you?" Scorpius got to his feet and held out a hand to Rose. "Come on, do you want to get wet?"

Rose burst out laughing as she stood up without using his helping hand.

"Yeah, that came out wrong. Come on, hurry!" Scorpius began to run.

"Hey, wait, Score!" Rose yelled, racing after him. The grass whipped at her legs and the rain slashed across her cheeks, picking up speed, but she gave a peal of laughter all the same and thought to herself, it may not have been the typical date, but it was better.

_Yes, Rose, you'd know all about real dates, wouldn't you, seeing as this is the first one you've ever had?_

_**Shut up!**_

Rose didn't mean it. She was too happy right now. I mean, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy kissed her! He actually, truly, legitimately kissed her!

But there was one problem.

"Score, we're dating now, right?" she asked as they wove through the people on the street.

"Yeah," he replied. They could see the Zonko's sign in the distance.

"How are we going to tell our parents?"

They ran quietly for a while until Scorpius stopped abruptly, to the outrage of the person behind him.

His eyes widened in realisation. "Oh God."

* * *

**Reviews are love, smiles and chocolate cupcakes. Thanks for reading! This chapter felt really fluffy but I like it. But WHEN ARE WE GOING TO GET TO THE REAL PLOT?! That, I don't know, but it will be soon.**

**Mwah!**

**PotterIsMyPatronus**


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Harry Potter, Drama, Romance